Destiny: Creeping Darkness
by Dirge for the Dead
Summary: Darkness resides in Elly C. She might not know it,she might not feel it.But she will.She will know the pain that all my waste locks have,and she will give in to it.Those brats Destiny and Robin won't get in my way.I swear it,or my name isn't Senor Diablo.
1. I'm Your Problem Now

Notes:

-This is based off of InvaderZaTR's awesome story Fate. Go check it out now. ):I

-This is the sequel of my crappy old story Johnny in Gotham, so I guess you should read it. But it sucks. This one will hopefully better. PLEASE GOD PLEASE! *gets hit in head with can* Ow...  
-Only Elly belongs to me. Destiny and all other characters you don't recognize belong to InvaderZaTR, and Johnny and Devi, etc etc etc all belong to Jhonen Vasquez. As if you didn't know that. :) And Mindless Self Indulgence own themselves. But I wish I owned them.

* * *

I sighed. Another day, another dollar, another move. Of course, anything was better than Gotham. After Johnny and Devi had killed those people dressed like clowns, we had high-tailed it out of there fast. They had to drag me, actually, due to my head trauma. I touched a slight scar on my forehead; a memory. I looked around my room- I had found a cheerleader doll in the basement the other day, slightly bloody from being in the basement because... yeah... and made that something that I took my anger out of. My old bed was still there, in slightly worse condition than it had been, and since we had no clean sheets, Johnny lent me his that he never used. No matter how much I had washed them, the blood wouldn't come out, so I slept on the floor.

I shoved my suitcase that held my clothes under the bed and grabbed my laptop- a late, late birthday present from my mom Devi- and plugged it in. I had recently taken to graphic designs, and Shop Photo was a great thing. I put the earphones in, and Mindless Self Indulgence was soon busting my eardrums out. I sang along quietly to Animal as I colored in a drawing I had done of Johnny during his rare, rare period of sleep.

_Signal-directional,_

_Institute-correctional,_

_File it alphabetical,_

_Ha-ha-hypothetical, (tonight)_

I decided to pretend I didn't hear anyone knocking on my door. I was happier than I had been in a year. Can't a semi-insane teen get a moment of hideously loud and awesome peace?

_Fuckin' incredible,_

_Suh, suh, nonconceptual,_

_I be the medical drug,_

_The theoretical--_

_Tonight!_

And, of course, Devi burst in right before I sang the 'tonight'.

"Are you listening to that horrible band Mindless Self whatever?" she asked, glaring at my CD player.

"Noooo..." Well, it technically wasn't a lie. She had not only said their name wrong, but they weren't horrible.

"Well, can you put your laptop up for a second?" Devi asked. I did as she said."We need to talk."

Oh. Shit.

* * *

Black combat boots stomped on the white tile floor, chains and buckles clicking together loudly. Angry breath blew strands of raven hair from piercing green eyes, glaring at everybody and everything. Teens and teachers alike stepped back from this ball of fury, who was currently hissing cuss words under her breath. Who was this girl?

That would have to be me, Elly C., daughter of Johnny C. and Devi D.

Angry thoughts whirled through my head as I hissed, flicking off a boy who was too slow to get out of my way and pushing a cheerleader in to a locker. I would probably have to pay for that sooner or later, but I was too angry to care.

Stupid Devi. Stupid Johnny. Stupid god fucking _Batman_. Wasn't it _his _fault for me going to a... a... a _high school_? After all, if he hadn't gotten Johnny caught in the first place, I would still be in Gotham.

_But you would still be going to school._

_Shut up._

I glared at the class schedule in my hand, crinkled from my pale hand gripping it so hard. First class- homeroom. Did all classes have boring names like that? It made them hard to remember.

I stood outside of the door, as the teacher introduced me. No, he didn't know I was there, and I could hear a bit of worry in his voice. Of course, just as he was finished, I burst in. The shock on his face was really funny.

I looked around the room, eyes glancing over everyone in the room; posers, goths, punks, wannabe's, cheerleaders, jocks... Everyone was the same. Sigh.

Then my eyes caught the gray ones of another girl.

Standing up, she would be about 5'3. Her black and red highlighted hair reacher her shoulders, and black bands ran up her forearm. Her shirt was the cover of MSI's album IF, and her choker matched it. I smiled inside. She was interesting. I would keep my eye on her.

I forced myself not to grin, and instead glared at her. Her peach skin paled, and her gray eyes widened into a deer-in-the-headlights look. Johnny would hate that. I remembered the last time he had seen that look. I was _still_ cleaning pieces of that girl off the car.

"Call me Lly." I said coolly, as if daring anyone to oppose it.

"Alright, Lly," the teacher, Mr. Spines replied with a giggle. I glared at him. "Please go sit behind Antonio."

I looked at Antonio, a slightly heavy blond boy with too much acne to be normal. Analysis- jerkwad.

_Careful not to go putting labels on people, my dear._ a voice in my head whispered._ That's called 'hypocritism'._

_Pf. Just wait, you. He _will_ be a jerkwad._

_If you say so._

This conversation with myself lasted less than a millisecond, and I walked back to sit behind Jerkwad, and I could feel that girls gaze on me. I felt her gaze shift to my backpack, where my key-chains were clinking together. Johnny had told me that my backpack was boring, so he gave me some small skulls, about the size of my fist to put on it. He had even forced keychain hooks through the top. "Yeah... thanks..." I had replied, hoping that they were cat skulls. Please god PLEASE let them be cat skulls.

"Simon!"the boy next to the girl with the gray eyes looked up. "Go sit next to Elly. You will be her buddy for the rest of the year. You will show her around the school at free period." Simon nodded and came to sit by me, and the redhead sitting there moved next to the girl.

I looked the girl in the eyes and she turned away real fast. Before she did, I recognized a look in her gray eyes. It was a bit of interest, and a bit of fear to. She was terrified, yet interested in who I was.

This was shaping up to be a good school year.

* * *

"What. The hell. Are these." I poked at the tacos in front of me with a fork.

"They're tacos." Simon said, biting into his own.

"These... are not tacos." I poked it again. "For one, I don't think that taco meat is supposed to be gray."

"They're healthy tacos."

"Healthy... tacos?" I felt a bit of rage well up inside me. _"Healthy tacos? _Tacos are _not_ meant to be healthy. They are supposed to be greasy and warm and high in calories! _Healthy tacos_? They serve those in hell! And I would know!" I glared at Simon, who was cowering in fear. Poor kid. His fear was funny.

"Shut up!" I heard someone yell, and turned my head to see that girl from class heave a bagel at her friend, who ducked.

"Yeah, Claudia." a girl on the next to the one who threw the bagel. "Stop one-upping Destiny!"

_Destiny, hmmm? _I sighed. The voice was back._ What an interesting name._

_God, just leave me alone._

_Now, eat your tacos, dear._

_What are you, my mother?_ I poked at them again.

_Something like that.

* * *

_

"So, you're Elly?" I glanced up from my sketchpad. A tall, busty cheerleader with fake blond hair stood in front of me. I raised an eyebrow at her cheerleader friends clustered about her.

_So it's true..._ I thought idly. _Preps _do_ travel in packs..._

"I'm Gabriella." Gabriella put a pink nailed hand in front of my face. I shook it lightly, as if scared of getting germs, and silently compared her perfect pink manicure to my self painted chipping dark blue nails.

"I'm Elly." I replied coldly. _God, pleasepleasePLEASE go away!_

"You should wear less black." a girl in the back chimed in false stilleto. I winced.

_Fuck._

"Yeah, you should. I mean, even your nails are black." Gabriella frowned.

"News flash, they're dark blue. Learn your colors, Gabby." I got up to walk away, but they blocked their way. Where was Johnny when you needed him?

"Wear more pink, and you'd be _perfect_ for the cheer leading squad!" Gabriella smiled, showing perfect white teeth.

"The very thought makes me sick." I told them. "Now go away before I rip out your breast implants and shove them down your throats." I flipped them off.

That scared them away.

I noticed Destiny staring at me, and I though about staring back. But, instead I went back to my drawing, too pissed to care.

* * *

After free period, I went to stuff my drawing pad in my locker, then had to hide from angry jocks pissed at me for flipping their girlfriends. Psh.

After they went to class, it was five minutes after the bell rang. I jumped down from the top of the lockers (as that was were I was hiding) and started off to class, whistling Breathe Me by Sia quietly, and it still echoed through the empty halls. Creepy.

My next class was Home Economics, and I decided that that was a _bit_ more interesting sounding than Homeroom. That was a boring name. Really boring.

I knocked three times on the door, then let myself in.

"Ah, you must be Miss C.," the teacher smiled. Her nameplate read Mrs. Zantacs. That was going to be hard to remember. "Please go sit next to..." her eyes browsed the children, then fell upon Destiny. "Destiny."

Destiny almost fell out of her chair, and I did as Mrs. Z said. I pulled out my notebook and began to doodle.

"Um... Hi." I turned and looked at Destiny, who's face was slightly red. I almost smiled, but decided to amuse myself.

I glared at her. "You're Destiny, right?"

"Yeah..." She nodded.

"I hate that name." I turned back to my doodles. "It's too unoriginal."

"I think it's pretty exotic!" she blurted out, a bit louder than she should have.

"Well, I don't!" I hissed, sneering.

"WHO'S TALKING?" Mrs. Z bellowed, whirling around.

"Destiny is, Mrs. Zantacs!" that bitch Gabriella said, twirling a strand of blond hair around her finger. God. I'd talked to her once, and I already hated her.

"The time you waste here, Destiny, is the time you spend after school," Mrs. Z said. "If you want to play now, go ahead. You can play now, and work after school." Destiny lowered her head and cursed quietly. Poor kid.

* * *

After school, I dragged my now heavy backpack outside and waited for Johnny and/or Devi to come and pick me up. Destiny was talking animatedly to two raven haired boys, and one had horns. Wait- _horns_!? Wasn't that, like, impossible?

"Destiny!" Mrs. Z called from the school. "You're supposed to be inside! Get in here now!"

Destiny growled and stomped up to Mrs. Z, and I saw her flick off the teacher when Mrs. Z wasn't looking. I grinned. Yes, this girl was very interesting indeed.

* * *

"So, how was school?" Johnny asked me when I got home. He was watching infomercials.

"Okay, I guess." I went to get a glass of milk from the fridge. "How the hell can you stand those things?" I asked him as I got a glass.

Johnny shrugged and continued to watch. I sighed and poured the milk out into my glass. Of course, what came out wasn't milk. It was a slimy, goopy glob that slightly resembled milk and paste. It also smelled like Devi's failed attempts at food.

"Nny..." He glanced over the shoulder back. "When was the last time you went grocery shopping?"

"Hm..." He thought for a second, tapping a dark finger on his chin. "Two months ago, I think. Sometime around your birthday.

"..." I glanced at the blob. My birthday had been over a year ago. "I... think I'll go to Devi's for dinner." I grabbed my bag and walked out the door.

"Get me a Brainfreezie why'll you're out!" Johnny called.

* * *

Notes: Yay! I is done! R/R!

-I actually have _plans_ for this story. Amazing, right? I KNOW WHERE THIS IS GOING! YAY!

- Adventure won't pick up until about chapter seven or so. So stick around till then, kay?


	2. Stupid MF

_Notes- _Sorry, Nikki, but I had to put up Destiny and Elly's age up for the sake of the story. I'm sorry! Please forgive me! But, on the bright side, Destiny is learning how to drive. :)

-Yes, Pepito and Todd are in this story. Pepito is seventeen, and Todd is 15. Big difference, huh?

-NO, no pairings! No PaSR, and no... *shudder* DaER. I actually had someone suggest that.

-Thanks to TheDarkestRed for being my new beta! You're awesome!

-Nikki -again- I actually remembered that Lucy and Molly _texted _Elly the message, but I had already written this awesome phone bit. Please don't mutilate me!

_Replies to Reviews-_

Four already! You guys make me so happy! :) Happy monkeys to you all! But anyway, replies to reviews-

InvaderZaTR- Thank you! I'm so glad you liked it! This is one of the best reviews I've ever gotten!

Honesty is the Best Policy- I'm sorry if those characters seemed like posers. Yes, Elly is a bit of a hypocrite and she judges people when she first meets them. This is meant to be a fatal flaw in her, because I don't want her to be perfect like most OC's seem to be. Like I said in the last chapter, this is mostly based off of InvaderZaTR's story Fate and a sequel to my story Johnny in Gotham. Since Gabriella is basically a bitch in ZaTR's story, I made Gabriella a bitch here too. And Elly hates cheerleaders more than Johnny. How is that possible!? You might want to talk to ZaTR about Destiny, I didn't make her so I can't speak for her. By the way, Lly is usually right about her judgments... strange, huh? But thank you, I will take this into consideration for later chapters. And by the way, Johnny has 'tried to kill her' several times. Most of the time it's just scrapes, thought. Yeah, he's not the best father, is he? But he's _crazy,_ people.

M- Um, no, sorry. No DaER for you. Elly (nor Destiny) is not gay. They like guys, GUYS, and not girls. Now, I stand up for gay people like hell (my bestest cousin is gay) but no, I won't make Elly gay. I don't think Nikki will make Destiny gay either, but you'll have to ask her about that.

Invader Luisa- Okay, Elly looks like this (put it together)- she has Devi's eyes, Johnny's face shape, Johnny's nose, and Devi's mouth. Her eyes are bright green, and she's 5'5 and 16. She has raven black hair, like Johnny, that is slightly (very, very slightly) wavy in places and reacher her chest. It used to reach her shoulders, but it grew. And she has a love for cargo pants. She must have to cargo pants.

-Once again, please read Fate and/or Johnny in Gotham if you are confused, and anything you'd like me to work on or fix I'll be glad to work out. Thank you!

* * *

It was midnight, maybe a bit past. A sliver of a moon was hovering in the sky, the stars blotted out by the brightness of the street lamps. Only one figure was outside, and she was barely even visible. She was lying on the damp grass of a lawn next to hers, staring at the sky. What she didn't know was that she wasn't alone. Standing in the center of the street, invisible to the human eye, were two figures- one tall, pushing seven feet, and one short, a bit under one foot and floating next to his companion.

_Is she in?_ the tall one asked.

_Yesss, massster. I made sssure ssshe wasss good and comfortable._ the other hissed, eyes gleaming in the dark.

_So the girl will be ready soon?_

_Assss sssooon asss posssible, massster._

_Bien._

And the two disappeared.

* * *

"Destiny and Elly."

I was startled, and stood up stock straight when I heard Mr. Spines read out our names. He was choosing partners for our history projects, and I was sure she didn't want to be partners with me. I had been a bitch to her for the past two weeks, brushing her off when she tried to be nice. And I had felt guilty about it.

_That can't be good._

_Shut up._

"What?!" Destiny shot up, glancing over at me. Her gray eyes had fear in them again. Ouch.

"Good." one of her friends said to another girl. "Now she'll have a real friend besides those Internet ones."

I turned around, as this girl sat right behind me. Her name was Crissy or Cloud or something like that.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but hear what you were saying." I said quietly. Claudia glared back at me. "Aren't you supposed to be her friend? Because she seems to think of you as one. After all, she sits with you at lunch, doesn't she? She talks to you, doesn't she? I'm sure that friends do that. I'm also sure that friends don't diss their friends behind their back." I turned back around, feeling her shocked silence, tinted with anger, behind me.

Good.

* * *

After school, I looked for Destiny. I wanted to talk to her, to tell her that I was sorry, but she was gone. I asked someone where she was, and he sneered, "What, looking for your girlfriend?"

I kicked him in the nuts so hard I think I heard them splat.

After that, I walked home with my light backpack behind me. I did most of my homework in study hall, so I didn't have any, and all that was in my black back was my journal, a pencil case, a wallet and my drawing pad.

Once I got home, I saw a note on the fridge.

_Lly-_

_I'm going to go see Devi for a while. Back soon._

_Nny_

Aw. That was nice.

I was fixing myself a bowl of Skettios when the phone rang. I stared at it for a while, then looked around the room to see if there was a trap rigged to it. There was, and I smashed it before answering the phone.  
"...Hello?"  
"Hi!" someone said, and I heard giggling in the background, along with some thuds and a couple yelled curse words. "It's Destiny!"

"Oh. Hi, Destiny." Whoever it was, it sure as hell wasn't Destiny, unless she had the flu, a cold and had had her esophagus ripped out by a shovel. Those didn't work that well for ripping out throats, and I would know.

"Anyway, I was wondering if we could get together today at the library, at, say-"

"Five?"

"Okay." More giggeling, and more angry background noises.

"Well, uh... by?"

"Seeya!"

Yes, that was _not _Destiny.

I wrote a note to Johnny about the library, and grabbed my back. I did know that it was only 3:53 but I wanted a Fizz Wizz. Before I left, I grabbed my CD player and turned it on, and the music of Mindless Self Indulgence soon filled my head.

I got into the library at 4:59, throwing my empty cup into a trashcan and glaring at the library lady, who was making out with the paper boy behind the desk. I pretended not to see him slip his hands down her shirt.

I looked around and saw Destiny sitting at a table, reading. I waited until she was done, picking up a book of my own. After a couple minutes, I realized the time and that she was looking around. She started to walk toward the doors, and I slipped out from behind a shelf behind her, just as she opened the glass doors.. I grinned, showing all my teeth in what I liked to call 'Johnny's Grin'.

"Why are you leaving?" I asked

She turned around, startled, then dragged her feet in. She sat down at a table, and I sat across from her, tapping dark blue nails against my cheek.

"Listen..." she said quietly. "Sorry about the call. It was from-"

"Lucy and Molly?" I cut her off, still tapping on my cheek in thought. I paused and moved my hand to the table, placing them together in a praying position, elbows on the table, and put the tips of my fingers to my lips. "I know. I kinda guessed from the bubbly humor." She let out a sigh of relief.

"Anyway," I changed the subject, "I thought we could use the magic of Invisionfree to make a website…type-thing….about Ancient Egypt."

"A forum?" She giggled.

"Well, do you have a better idea?" I asked angrily.

She ceased her laughing. "...No.:

"Good!" I smiled Johnny's Grin again. "Come to my house after school tomorrow so we can start." And with that, I left the library, smiling to myself.

_This should be fun._

I frowned. _Shit. I thought you were gone._

_Well, I _am_ part of your mind. Unless you plan on cutting your brain out, I'll be here for a good long while.  
Let me get back to you on that cutting the brain out thing, okay?_

I heard myself sigh, and I took the bus home. I hated it, but when you needed to get somewhere fast, it was most defiantly the place to go.

"Money." the bus driver put out his hand.

"Robert," I shook my head. "Do you know what your wife would do if she saw that picture of you kicking that poor, poor dog? Her being the animal activist and all..."

"Oh, hello Elly." Robert glared at me, then turned pale when he realized that I still had that picture. "Fine. Go sit in the back."  
"Thank you, Robert." I smiled sweetly and went to sit in the back. I saw a sweet looking couple sitting by me, talking closely and giggling. I sighed.

_Love... What is love?_ I opened my journal and took out a pencil, pressing the graphite to the lined paper.

_Dear Die-ary,_

_It has been exactly one year and three months since I moved to Gotham. I know this from that cute little Chihuahua calender in the basement. Johnny doesn't remember buying that._

_I do realize that I haven't written in forever, so I apologize. Here is an account of what happened._

_We've been driving around, well, everywhere, since we left that accursed place. We (Johnny, Devi and I) traveled around and stuff. For about two months. It was pretty boring, actually. That car can't hold a lot, you know. _

I drew a quick picture of myself writing in the margins as I thought about what to write next.

_I really hate school. The only thing that I liked about the Gotham school was Dick. Wait... did I just write that? Well, it's not like I like him or anything. Psh, as if. He's stuck up, rich, and steriotipical. Not only that, he also put Johnny in that crazy place. Or helped. I dunno. _

I put the pencil to my lips, thinking about him. I had had thoughts about him in the back of my head for ever since we had left Gotham.

_But he saved me from that bastard Joker. He cared. No one cares for Elly C. (with the exception of my parents and my art teacher)! _

_I wonder if he was okay after Johnny bashed his head in with an iron bar? Where did he get that iron bar anyway? Well, he _does_ fight crime every night. I think he'll be okay. I hope he is._

I hit myself on the side of the head and looked at the couple.

_No. Bad Elly. BAAAAAD Elly. _

The couple were kissing now, oblivious to the staring passengers.

_But I have to wonder. If he okay? Did the police help him? Was Batman mad? Is Gotham any safer without the Joker? Is Dick okay?  
__**WHY CAN'T I STOP THINKING ABOUT HIM??? **__This is driving me insane! I can't stop thinking about him, not throughout our roadtrip and not now! I won't ever see him again, so why do I even care? Because __**I**__** DO NOT LIKE HIM. **_

I pressed the pencil into the paper so hard on that last sentence so hard it ripped through the paper. I stared at it for a moment before writing my name.

_Love,_

_Elly C.

* * *

_

Notes-

-No, Elly does not love Dick at the moment. She's just worried, and she might have a bit of a crush of him in the back of her head, but she doesn't know right now... I'm sure that it didn't seem like that at the time you read above, but it's true. In fact, that whole Die-Ary entry is from what the sequel was going to be. I never finished that one, and I think I like this a whole lot better.

-I would like to say that, very sadly, the Library Lady thing happened, but with some lady at a comic store behind a shelf. My friend Briar took pictures.

-One of my close friends, Hypocritically Her, recently posted on her profile that she had gotten a review from the following person, and I think it needs some notice.

from:

Field Marshal MURDERFACE

review:

_Hi there!_

_I checked out your profile, and noticed that in it you claim to be a 14 year old girl._

_Yet somehow all I can imagine is a fat sweaty 40 year old man sitting at his computer wearing a stained white tank top, and not a stitch more. The dingy walls surrounding this creature are festooned with hentai imagery, and poorly drawn pornographic fan-art sourced from the darkest recesses of the internet._

_I wonder why this could be?_

_I think it probably has something to do with the fact that you obviously spend a significant portion of your life spewing out illiterate rape/S&M-fantasy fan-fiction about cartoon characters. Cartoon characters that are supposed to be children, I might add._

_There is nothing remotely sexy or funny to be found in any of your stories; instead, they are just plain creepy. Now, I realise that is basically no more than a massive clusterfuck of these kinds of delightful "stories", but somehow yours manage to stand out as a pinnacle of awfulness. You ought to feel special, though not in a good way._

_You obviously have some deep-seated issues with your sexuality, so perhaps you should consider seeking professional help for this, rather than further befouling the great sewer that is the internet._

_The only constructive advice I can possibly give to you is to suggest that you never write anything again. Ever._

Back to Dirge- Now, I think this is possibly the worst review that anyone can get, especially to a young author. Field Marshal MURDERFACE has no stories of his/her own. She/he has taken off their PM ability. All they seem to want to do is flame people on their stories. Field Marshal MURDERFACE could have just told her that he/she did not like her story. But they wrote this, instead. First telling her that she was a 'fat sweaty 40 year old man' and then telling her to 'never write anything again. Ever.'

Now I will ask my dear readers to please not ever do this to someone. It can deeply hurt someone, and flames like this have actually caused some overreactive people to kill themeself. Now, hopefully Her did not kill herself, and is still alive and well, but yes, some people who get depressed easily have committed suicide because of this. Her was very hurt on this, and it deeply crushed her and made her feel bad. So please, think about what you're saying before you say it. Or review it. Or PM it, or anything of the type. Thank you for reading this!

~Dirge


	3. Lights Out

_I just got off school! Yay! SCHOOL IS OVER! FOR TWO WEEKS! Well, yeah. Sadly, it's nowhere NEAR summer. *sigh* I just got back from my very first school dance, too. It was fun, even though I got claustrophobic-like near the end. BIG CROWD+4 HOURS= VERY UNHAPPY DIRGE. -December 15th, 11:21 pm_

Wow, three chapters in a row! I have no life, do I? Anyway, I would like to thank InvaderZaTR, because, well, she _did _inspire me to do this and all... I would also like to thank my new beta, TheDarkestRed. If you like the Powerpuff Girls, go check out her fucking _awesome_ fics. And, of course, InvaderZaTR, because you still need to read Fate and her other awesome stories, especially if you like ZaTR. Not that her name has anything to do with ZaTR or anything. ;)

_Notes-_

+Aaaaah, jesus frikin christ, my head huuuurts... I really do think that this will be the last chapter for... a while. A week, at most. But I'll try and make it long. I'm going on vacation on Monday in DC, and I really doubt I'll be able to update there... But I'll still be writing... You'll know when I get back, though, cuz I will have a Christmas fic up. I have one weekend to finish this, and a Friday, but I have a soccer game and another Christmas party on Fri... Then on Sat. I'm going to my friend Merav's Bat Mitzvah (god I hope I spelled that right, but I probably didn't), so really it's just Sun. Crap, church. Agh, I dunno... I'm on a writing streak, have you realized that? Jeez! I really do think that I'm overworking myself, however, due to the fact that I've gotten only 12 hours of sleep this week because of layover homework, my comicbook (only the third page? O_o) and the updates here. Since I am OCD (betcha guys didn't know that) I feel like I have to write. It's better than OCD cleaning, like my sister, who I share a room with. (Basically, it's Agh, Eva, you're shirt isn't in the hamper right! Your laptop is all dusty! I'm a whiner! Waaaagh!) I also made a promise to practice my guiter 15-30 minutes a day, and I get home at 6:50 every day, and I have to fix dinner every Tuesday, shower, homework (free of that for now), practice guitar, draw, update website (still have to do that! Shit!), write, etc etc etc. Maybe vacation will be an actual vacation, because summer just did NOT work out for me. Did you know that I'm almost asleep right now? Wait... never mind, I'm fine. It's just 4:57 in the morning... no biggie... *falls asleep at desk*  
Hopefully my mood won't rub off in this chapter.

* * *

"Johnny." Johnny looked up from the kitchen table, where he was drawing the latest installment of Happy Noodle Boy.

"Shouldn't you be at school right about now?" he asked, even though I knew he didn't really give a flying fuck were I was.

"My new history partner is coming over after school." I informed him, resting a hand on the side of the doorway. "And since our home happens to be covered in blood, organs and who knows what else, I have to clean this up."

"Do you have to?" Johnny almost whined. "I really _hate_ the smell of that cleaning shit."

"I'll get you a Brainfreezy if you're good." I told him, walking over to the sink and grabbing a bucket from under it. "Okay?"

"Yay!" Johnny grinned and went back to his comic. And he was an _adult,_ for Christs sake.

"Anyway, where's the cleaning detergent? I'm sure Devi left some here somewhere..." I looked around, and then saw it hidden behind our sorry excuse for a toaster. I was about to pour some in when I noticed the state of the bucket. There was dried bits of skin and flaking blood in it, and some was still wet, pooling at the bottom in a wet glob.

_Oh, sick._ I stuck out my tongue and put it under the sink, turning on the faucet to let it clean it out while I went to go find a squeegee to scrub with.

"D- I mean, Nny, do you know where a squeegee is?" I asked him, peeking in.

"Squeegee's next door." he said, not looking up.

"Uh..." I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"That little boy next door." he told me, turning to face me, a bit of ink from the pen on his cheek. "His name was Squeegee. Asshole parents, if you ask me. Should rot in hell. But Squee never let me kill 'em. Still like them, for some reason." He turned back to his comic. "Go clean, I'm busy."

I sighed. "Just wanted to know where a sponge was..." I mumbled. After about twenty minutes of searching, I decided to use the squeegee I used to wash my body. Since Johnny was no help, I got to clean the whole house by myself. Of course, since it was only about two rooms beside my own, which was clean, Johnny's room, which was just an empty room now, and The Basement. Of course she wouldn't go in The Basement. I wouldn't let her.

I started at the living room. That was were the stains were worse. Soon I moved on to the kitchen, and Johnny moved to the living room before going outside to 'vent'. I had just finished the bathroom, therefore cleaning the house, when Johnny burst in, dragging the bloody body of a teenage girl after him. I stared at him, my whole face following him as he dragged her down into the basement. I stared at the now bloody floor.

"Fuck, Johnny!" I yelled. "I just finished cleaning it! Agh!"

"Build yourself a bridge and get the fuck over it!" was the muffled reply. I growled and moved to clean up the warm, rusty smelling mess.

After I finished this, I stomped upstairs to change out of my now bloody and bleached clothes, which was just a black tanktop and gray PJ bottoms. I threw them into my closet and changed into black and dark purple striped leggings with a kneelength black vinyl skirt over it, my Chain Boots and a black tanktop. I had a lot of those.

After this was done, and I was about to open my laptop and get ideas for the new site Destiny and I would be building, I noticed the cheerleader doll (see chapter one). It's black button eyes stared back at me, as if mocking me, and my eye twitched.

"Fuck." I pulled the knife that Johnny forced me to carry around with me out of my boot. I advanced on the little cheerleader doll and circled it, green eyes narrowed. "You think you're so funny, don't you?" I twirled the knife in my hands. "Stupid cheerleaders... taunting me, making fun of me and my family..." I paused and stared at the cracked ceiling. "Ever heard of Gabriella?" I asked it, smiling. "She's a bitch... she tripped me in class the other day. Everyone laughed. I thought we were past this stage of stupidity." I glared at the small doll. "Why were you in my basement? I know Johnny would never have a cheerleader doll, and I doubt you just walked in here.

_You'd be surprised, my dear._

"It's funny." I paused. "I'm talking to a one foot cheerleader doll. A doll. Does this mean I'm crazy?

_Quite the contrary, Ellesandra. _(see Johnny in Gotham)

"But I've always been able to hear Nailbunny and the rest." I walked around it again, tossing the knife in the air and catching it again. "Maybe I've always been crazy?"

_Possibly._

"Hm. You're answering me." I laughed. "That can't be good."

_Actually, you're just delusional from the cleaning chemicals. Well, halfway. I'm sure you wouldn't be doing this if you were right in the head._

"Since when have I been right in the head?" I frowned. "You want to be stabbed, don't you?"

_Not really._

"Then deal with it." I proceeded to give the doll ten blows to the front with a knife, but it looked like a lot more. After this, it was silent. I sat down on my bed and stared at it for a while, the effect of the chemicals fading away.

"I think I'll call you Mayhem."

* * *

It was about three twenty when I heard a terrified screech from the basement. Not knowing if it was the doorbell or some poor tortured soul in The Basement, I still lay there on the bloody sheets of my bed, reading Dies the Fire, which is a pretty good book, I might add. A couple seconds later, I heard Johnny yell "LLY! YOUR FRIEND'S HERE!!!!" I flinched. What a great way to greet a guest, Nny.

_What are you going to do with this girl, Lly? _Oh god. Mayhem was back. _After all, she might find out about your family._

_Shut up._

I put the book on my desk and walked out into the living room, smiling at my guest. She flinched. I guess my smile wasn't all that welcoming, hm?

"Hi... Lly." She twitched as she said the nickname. Johnny looked over her head at me, with a look that said _'Just who the hell is this?'_

I ignored the look and reached my hand out for Destiny's jacket, still smiling. "I'll take your coat."

She stared at my hand for a second before handing me the white jacket. I walked toward the basement, wondering where the hell to put it due to the fact that we didn't really have a coat closet, so I opened the basement door and threw it down. I felt something heavy in her pocket, which would probably hurt if it hit someone.

_That was a bad idea, my dear._

_Shut up!_

"OW!" a female voice screamed from the first floor. I winced.

"Shut up!" I called, then turned to Destiny and smiled. "We have cats."

_That was a stupid excuse._

_SHUT UP!_

I led her to my room, and she looked around as I got out my laptop. When it was ready, I turned to her and noticed her staring at my alarm clock, which I had smashed to smithereens that morning with my pillow.

"Oh," I blinked. "It... wouldn't shut up so I... smashed it..."

Destiny seemed to come back to reality. "Oh," she said. "Well, let's make that…forum."

I think it was kind of awkward for both of us.

"Let's." I sat down, and motioned for her to sit by me on my still bloody bed. I needed to ask Devi about new sheets. Badly. The floor was getting very uncomfortable.

"So..." she said, as we waited for Invasionfree to make the website. My computer was slow. "I've heard rumors about you."

"Oh." I looked at her, one eye closed. "Like what?"

"Well..." she paused, as if pondering if she should tell me. "I've heard you make pillow friends. And that you kill raccoons, butter them and eat them for brunch. And that your dad's a homicidal maniac."

"Oh, eh, heheh..." I laughed a bit, wincing inwardly at that last part. "Raccoons? Evil little things, they are, but _killing and eating them_? That's sick beyond belief. Sicksicksicksick_sick._"

She laughed. "Good. I don't think I'd like to be friends with a raccoon-buttering-eating person." I laughed too. "Me neither. As for the pillow friends..." I picked up my pillow and showed it to her, and proceeded to speak in a high and squeaky voice that resembled Alvin the Chipmunk.

"This is Fred. He's my bestest, bestest friend." Destiny started to laugh harder. "I tell him _aaaaall _my secrets, because he's a real and living person. I also have pillow friends like Marge, Bob, Joe and Franny." I went on like this for about ten minutes, and by the end of my Pillow Act, I thought that Destiny was going to puke she was laughing so hard. "Ew, too much happy." I threw the pillow on the floor and glared at the computer. 34%. "Stupid computer. I need some MSI."

"Ohmigod, you like Mindless Self Indulgence too?" Destiny grinned. "They're, like, my favorite band!"

"Me too!" I grinned back. "My mom Devi hates them, though. My dad doesn't give a shit."

"My parents _H-A-T-E _MSI." She sighed. "My mom recently threw out my disks."

"Oh god, really?" I made a face. "We need to get some MSI in you, then. I can tell your MSI intake is low." I grabbed her wrist and pretended to take her pulse. "YES! OH, THE HORROR OF MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE NON-INTAKE... stuff..." I grabbed my CD player and turned it to number three, which was Bed of Roses.

_Hey, it's alright my life has never been a bed of roses_

_this way's better for me I don't care to live a life I've chosen._

_Hey, it's alright my life has always been a sad emotion_

_don't feel sorry for me feel it sorry been my last emotion._

We were both singing the lyrics loudly, and at the end we both sighed. "I love this band." I told my new friend.

"Me too." Destiny looked at the CD player and began browsing through the songs. "I still have some at my dads house, luckily. Of the disks, I mean."

"Your parents are divorced?" I asked, turning off the CD player and placing it on my bedside table.

"Yeah. Yours?"

I paused. "Uh... kinda? Like, Mom- or Devi, as I call her- still comes over sometimes. Johnny- my dad- and her get along... kind of. It depends, really."

"Ah." Destiny nodded. "Oooh! The thing's done!" I turned to the screen.

"Awesome!"

After the website was made, we spent hours adding forums, categories and skinning sheets. Even when it was done, we still had an hour and a half left.

"And remember when Mrs. Z wore those skinny jeans to school?" I asked.

"How could I?" Destiny made a face. "I still have nightmares about it!"

We both laughed loudly, and then Johnny burst into the room, pointing a long, skinny finger at me. "IT WAS YOU!"

Destiny and I became solemn.

"What was me?" I asked, wondering if he had fallen asleep recently.

"YOU LEFT THE OVER ON!!!" Nny shouted.

I gave him a look. "Why would I use the oven?"

"I don't know..." He paused. "BUT I KNOW YOU DID IT!"

"Then who did do it?" Destiny whispered in my ear. "The cats?" We both chuckled.

"Why is it such a big deal?" I asked, leaning back onto my bed.

"I dunno." Johnny tapped his nose in thought. "But someone really should put out the big fire it's making."

"WHAT?!" I got up and dashed down the hall, Destiny close behind me.

* * *

A/N Okay, I'm waaaay to lazy to type the whole fire thing, so just... use your imagination, people. It's 12:23 AM, give a girl a break.

* * *

Once the fire was out, Destiny and I stared at the remains of our now charred oven. It looked kinda like a lump of coal, actually. Sad, because I wanted to make spaghetti that night. Ah, well. Skettios it is. Again.

"Yikes!" Destiny looked at her watch. "I gotta go!"

"Kay, I'll go get your coat." I walked over to the basement door, but Destiny ran past me and reached it before I did. I felt a surge of panic.

"It's okay, I'll get it." She walked down the stairs. I stood there for a second before getting my bearings and racing down after her, taking the concrete steps two at a time.

"No! Wait!" I almost screamed, but it was too late. Destiny was staring at at least twenty bodies, dead, alive and tortured. The live ones started to scream at us to let them free, and I was sure I heard Destiny's mind snapping.

I grabbed her coat off the ground, and pulled her up the stairs.

"Destiny, I think it's time to tell you the truth."

"The truth?" She raised an eyebrow. "I think you are _far _from telling me the truth."

Oh.

Ouch.

I pulled her to my bed and we sat down. I took a deep breath, about to say things I had never really said.

* * *

_This girl could be a problem._

_**How so?**_

_Well, she now knows about Elly and her family._

_Well, maybe Elly will lie._

_**I doubt that.**_

_If this 'Destiny' girl turns out to be a problem, then we'll waste her. Easy enough, right?_

_Let's just see how it all pans out.

* * *

_

"So what Mary told me was true?" Destiny looked at me with wide gray eyes.

"Well, um, most of it." I sighed. "We don't move so that the 'cops don't catch' him. No one really cares that he kills, we've realized. We move because my parents would rather not be in a padded cell, and I'd rather not be sent to a orphanage for creepy little kids and have to talk to social workers _twenty four hours a day_."

_So you're leaving out the Gotham part? Smart._

_Mmm._

"I-I'm sorry." Destiny stood up and grabbed her coat. "This-this is too much for me. I have to go. Really."

And she left without a word.

I stared at the wall until I heard the front door slam. At that, I put my head in my hands.

"Great." I sighed. "Fan-fucking-tastic."

* * *

The next day was very, very slow. Classes went by in an eternity, and Simon was gone, assigned to some kid who everybody swears is gay. Destiny avoided me, flinching when I tried to talk to her, and several of her 'friends' yelled at me for 'scaring the living shit out of her'. Actually, I didn't. Johnny's creepy hobbies did. I'm innocent, I tell you.

When, at last, the last period (Science) came, I realized that I what he was talking about for once, so I zoned out and played with Todd's pencil sharpener I had taken off his desk earlier that day in a fit of extreme boredom. I was vaguely aware of him asking Gabriella a question, laughter, him asking someone else a question, and then asking me a question. I really didn't care about what the Law of Conservation of Mass was, so I kept silent.

Mr. Spines went on a rant about how no one listened to him, and it was 3:00 before I knew it. The bell rang and everybody cleared the class except for me and two other students. Todd stopped by my desk and asked in a shaky voice if he could have his pencil sharpener back, but I glared at him and he scurried out the door with the rest of his class.

"Are you two, like, dead or something?" an annoying voice with a valley girl accent asked. Gabriella.

"Oh, um, no." I heard Destiny reply, and there was a shuffling of papers. "I was just-"

"Just what?" I looked over at the two teenagers. Gabriella had positioned herself so that she was leaning over Destiny's desk with her hands behind her back, and Destiny was zipping up her backpack. Mr. Spines had left the room for some reason, probably to get some soup or something. He had said something about soup earlier.

I put my head on my desk and waited for Gabriella to leave so that I could talk to my almost-friend.

"Is this Pepito with a pointy violin?" Gabriella asked, and I heard her grab the piece of paper Destiny had been doodling on all class time from her desk.

"No!" I heard someone stomp their foot, and I looked up to see her try to grab the paper from the evil cheerleaders grasp of evilness.

"Why do you want it back?" I sat up and stared at them.

"Cuz it's mine!" Destiny made another grab for the paper, which was another failed attempt.

"Are you in loooooove with Pepito?" Destiny grabbed the paper and ripped it out of Gabriella's hands. I mean that in the literal way; it really did rip.

""Look up you did!" she said. "You ripped your boyfriend."

"Shut up!" Destiny shouted. Where the hell was Mr. Spines?

Gabriella pushed her backwards, and I stood up.

"Stop!"

"What're you going to do about it, bitch?" Gabriella asked, pushing Destiny to the ground. I walked over to Gabriella silently, and heard a thud as Destiny's head hit the ground. She looked like she was going to cry!

Destiny got up, but the cheerleader pinned her to a wall. This was the most evil cheerleader I had ever seen, which is saying a lot, because 76% of the people in The Basement are cheerleaders.

"You're a weak little scum bag, aren't you?" she asked, smirking.

Suddenly, two hands wrapped around Gabriella's neck and started squeezing. Gabriella's face turned a dark red. She let go of Destiny and began to dance like a monkey in pain. Who was choking her?

Well, it was me. Duh.

I pushed the whore to the ground and pressed my boot to her stomach. It must have hurt, because I was borrowing some of Johnny's steel tipped boots.

"Get" _choke_ "the hell"_ choke_ "off me!" she screamed.

"Listen, fuck face." I pulled her up and raised a fist, drawing it back. "No one- _no one_- messes with my friends."

On the last word, I punched her in the nose so hard I heard cartilage snap. I wiped the blood off my first and smiled at Destiny, who was watching us with wide eyes.

Gabriella got up, holding her bloody nose.

"Bitches!" she exclaimed, then ran out of the room.

Then there was silence.

"…how did you-?" Destiny trailed off.

"I've learned a few things from my dad." I looked at the black and red haired girl, my head slightly tilted to the left. She looked down at her feet, deep in thought.

"I'm sorry, Lly," she finally said. I drew back, a bit startled.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm sorry for storming out the other day."

"It's okay, I'm sorry for keeping secrets from you. It's just that, I'd never tell anyone in the world my secret, so why did I tell you?" The last part was mostly to myself.

_Because you trust her. Don't you know that, Elly? You've trusted her more than anyone, maybe even Dick, and you've only known her for two weeks. Funny how it all works out, hmm?_

"I don't know. Why?"

"Because I trusted you, that's why!" I realized. "You were the first person I ever trusted! EVER! I don't even trust my parents yet!" I grinned, and Destiny giggled.

"…so," she said after a while of silence. "What now?"

I thought for a second. "Well, usually in all the sappy friendship movies, the two friends hug," I said. "Please don't hug me." We shared a laugh.

All of a sudden, a women walked in. The principle. Gabriella was behind her with a Kleenex to her nose and a kicked puppy look on her face.

"Elly C., Destiny Freeman," she said with a rather unhappy face. "In my office, NOW!"

"This..." I whispered to Destiny, "Does not bode well."

* * *

Notes-

-Okay, I'm really sad to say that Dies the Fire does _not_ belong to me. It is sadly *sob* the property of the _amazing_ S.M. Stirling. If I did own Dies the Fire, I would be rich and probably not bothering with fanfiction. Think about it, guys. If you were famous, you wouldn't either.

-I actually share Mayhem with my boyfriend of almost one year, Nate. She was the voice of my first OC, Keesha (who was Johnny's little sister. I was 12, shut up.) in my first fanfiction, which is really too sucky to be shared with anyone. Then Nate made a comic about Mayhem but forgot her name, dubbing her Mz. Katastrophe. She was a doll that convinced people to kill themselves, but, lucky for her (sarcasm), she got sold to a stupid girl name Brittany who wears an olive shirt that says 'I (heart) Toilets' in hot pink letters. It was funny, so don't diss his idea. Anyway, Mayhem's design has changed... a lot... since then. She now has no arms, nor legs, and looks like something out of a Tim Burton movie. Well, that's how Nate draws her. I draw her the same as she was. But now she's a cheerleader, so... God, I don't even know who she is anymore.

-Once again, Destiny and her buds belong to InvaderZaTR, and Johnny, Todd, Pepito, Devi, etcetcetc belong to Jhonen Vasquez, and Elly belongs to me. Mayhem is a Nate/Dirge mix. Shya.

-And yes, chemicals from cleaning stuff can do that to you. Elly was all hyped up because she didn't get any air or anything. Driving while under Chemical Influence acts the same as driving drunk. But so does driving sleep deprived, but Johnny drives. Huh.

-Any flames will be used to toast souls in Pepito's basement.

+Yes, the chapter so far are basically based off of Fate, just in Elly's POV. That may change after a while, as I have no idea where Fate is going, and I'm pretty sure I know where this is going.

+I would like to comment on some reviews I've gotten. To Fire Pit and Lolita, both having no FF accounts, I would like to ask you to please be _specific _about your reviews. Fire Pit, you said that this 'sucked ass'. Now, if you would please tell me _what_ I am doing that you do not like and how to change it so that it is better, I would much appretiate it, because most of what I do is for my own amusement and for personal growth. Same to Lolita, who liked it. But, sadly, I have no idea what you like about it. If you tell me, I will keep at it, or if you don't like it, I will try to change it for your liking. As a perfectionist (and an OCD) I want to grow to fit everyones shoes, and telling me what you like and don't like will help a lot. Without this, I cannot grow into a better writer, so please be more specific in your reviews. Thank you.

+ONCE MORE! READ FATE!

-And this was what was cut out of this chapter

(in the beginning)

_**RIIIIIING.**_

**I groaned and buried my head into my pillow.**

_**RIIIIIING.**_

**I turned my head to the alarm clock and pointed at it, as if that would make it silent.**

**"Shut up."**

_**RIIIIIING.**_

**"Please?"**

_**RIIIIIING.**_

**I growled, trying to ignore it. **

_**RIIIIIING.**_

**Finally, I snapped.**

**"FUCK!" I screeched, smashing it into peices with my pillow. (A/N- it's a temperpedic pillow, so it can do that. Seriously, ever hit someone with a temperpedic pillow? It hurts like hell.)**


	4. Mindless Self Indulgence

Dirge: HEEEEY! Guess who's back on the internet right now?

ME! :D

Okay, long story short, I got grounded for dying my hair dark purple. Bad news- I couldn't get on the computer for a month and a half. Good news- My hair is dark purple. XD

Anyway, due to my prolonged absence, I owe you like 30 updates. Sigh. But I'm chock ful of ideas, and ready to go! BANG!

Anyway, I reread Johnny and Gotham and the feeling I felt was a mixture of affection, wonder and... disgust. Pure repulsion. Dear god, I _wrote_ that? I... I... I feel like a failure. So I'll rewrite it soon. Probably after this. Or in the middle. I dunno. Hm. Well, I also realized that, even though this isn't in the Batman section anymore, it still is half-Batman. And I'm sure the (few) Batman-fans that read my story will be dissapointed if I don't add someone. But I'll warn you; It'll be Robin. I can't do anything with Batman, because I OOC too much. Sigh.

___

_She ran through the dark hallways, her breath coming out through her teeth in short, harsh gasps. How long had she been running now? It seemed like forever. How long had she been trapped down here, with the smell of blood, piss and sweat stinging her nose every second she took a breath? She didn't know. She hadn't seen daylight in forever, and her watch had stopped working days ago. Her stomach growled, and she stumbled, but was only down for a second before getting back up and running again._

_"Where's the exit to this place?" she sobbed, tears dripping down her dirty, bloodspecked face. _

_"Please, darling, you shouldn't yell to the persom who you're trying to run away from." A dark figure stepped out in front of her, making her slide to a stop. "It's just not that smart."_

_She turned and took off running in the other direction, turning left at the first chance she got. She had always wondered why, in horror movies, the victims only ran farther into the place they were trapped. Now, of course, she knew. You became to scared to have a sense of direction._

_There was a whistle of something flying through the air, and something sharp embedded itself within her vertabra. She went with a gasp to the ground, and the soft 'click-click' of steel toed boots became louder behind her. She managed to turn her head, her blue eyes dull. The boots stopped beside her, and a voice said, "Well, you shouldn't have run... I always have laughed at those people in the movies, running toward their attacker... It was fun to see it in real life." Dark hands, glowing in the moonlight, reached down and pulled her up by her shirt, chipped, painted nails digging into the fabric, and a soft feminin voice whispered, "But the funs over, sweetie. Time to go to bed." _

_The last thing she saw before a knife slipped her head off was those eyes... glowing green in the moonlight._

Elly woke up screaming.

___

I walked unsteadily to the bathroom sink, clutching my head. What _was_ that? Why did I have that dream? I stared at the mirror, noticing that my face was paler that usual, and that my usually bright green eyes were a dull color, like the color of dry grass. The flash of blood, gore and other things that would make a surgeon puke from the beggining of the dream came up, and I crippled and threw up in the sink. (A/N: Have to keep the rating PG13, so I couldn't add it. And yes, it would make a surgeon puke) I stared at the gunk, uncomprehending, startled that the daughter of a man who's hobby was _killing-_ and at an R rated complex- would throw up over a dream. But that wasn't it. The thing that scared me was that the girl that was doing the killing looked eerily like... well... me.

The rest of the day went by in a daze, and I developed an awful headache. The good news was, Destiny and I didn't get in too much trouble. Mrs. Smith just gave us a month of detention, and we had to go to school for an hour a weekend to write 'I WILL NOT PUNCH PRETTY, POPULAR AND SMART CHEERLEADERS IN THE FACE', which was stupid, because 1.) Gabriella wasn't any of those things, minus popular, and 2.) only _I _had punched her. And it wasn't the face, it was the _nose _to be exact.

It had been one week since then, and I hadn't gone to school. I hadn't been feeling well, so Devi let me stay home and stay in bed. Johnny really wouldn't have given a flying fuck if I stayed home from school. He probably wouldn't have cared if I stayed home all year, either. Sure, it was his idea when we were in Gotham, but that was because it was, like, the _law_ or something. Hm. But now, he didn't care, but all Devi cared about was 'a good education' and 'getting somewhere in life'. I got that same speech from my first grade teacher, the first and last time I ever went to school till Gotham. She had told me how you can't get anywhere in life without a good education and 'smarts', as she called them. I had proceeded to tell her that I wanted to be a hobo when I grew up, and to 'fuck off and die in a ditch, whore'. That was it for my educational adventure.

I plopped down on my bed and rested my head on the ratty pillow that I used.

_What's up, Lly? _the voice of Mayhem asked me.

"Ugh, please leave me alone. I feel like shit."

_I would, but I live in your head. _Mayhem burst into laughter that sounded oddly like a witches, but like an English person was trying to do it and just sounding scary.

"You make my head hurt." I informed her, throwing the pillow at her and missing. She laughed, and then made a strange rining sound. I stared at her for a moment before realizing that the 'ringing sound' was my new cellphone, given to me by Overprotective Mom of the Year, Devi D. I grabbed it and checked the caller I.D. It was Destiny.

"H'llo?" I asked, slurring dreadfully because of my headache.

"Lly? Lly are you okay?" a concerned Destiny asked. "You sound drunk. Are you drunk? You better not be drunk."

"No, I'm not drunk." Wow, I really did sound drunk. "Do you really think Nny would let me drink? Really?"

"Hm. No." There was a pause, and I heard someone yell something in the background. "Lly, Lucy and some of my other friends and I are going to the mall. You wanna come?"

"Nah." I shook my head, making it pound worse. "I feel really sick. But I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Elly, are you okay? Do you want to talk about-"

"Oh no Destiny, I-I think we're breaking up!" I grabbed a bag of chips that was conveniantly on my bedside table (A/N- see the power of my logic?) and crushed them right by the ear piece. "I'll have to call you later!"

"I know that's just potato chips!" Destiny shouted.

"Actually, it's Sun Chips! Don't mix them up, god!" I hung up and threw the phone across the room, ignoring the 'crack' that rang out after.

_She was worried, Elly. _Mayhem scolded. _That wasn't nice._

"Since when are you my mother?" I dug under the sheets, ignoring Mayhem's speech about 'true friendship' or something like that. I soon fell into a deep sleep.

____

_click_

_my names dick what's yours-dont kill me-click-click-come to a party with me-click-kill-go dance with him-what are you doing in my room-click-so you're bruce wayne huh-click-click-click-heard of your reputation-vasquezville-FEED-likes marshmellows-click-click-click-click-who are you-please don't kill me please please-click-spilled coffee on my favorite shirt- please please dont-click-that's a stupid name-my names devi-clickclick-don't kill me please please oh please-coffee-clickclick-no fucking brainfreezies-kill me-names dick-just a bird-elly call me lly-KILL-lly-elly-Kill-dick-clickclickclick-DON'T KILL ME-dick-he's robin-click-i know it-click-pain-no-click-click-out-click-i want out-amazing you can wear spandex-feed me-robin-kill him-me-feed me-party with me-click-just a bird-FEED ME-kill-joker-click-pain-clickclick-GIVE UP FEED-nonononono-clickclick-GIVE UP KILL HIM FEED ME-NO!_

I woke up, struggling to slow my breath and understand my dream. It was just words, random words, filled with realization and pain. Pictures, blood, a... a knife...

I rushed to the bathroom and threw up.

___

"Where are you going?"

I turned around. Johnny peered over the back of the couch. "I'm going to jump off a cliff." I told him sarcastically.

"Get me a Brainfreezie while you're at it, okay?"

Johnny lay back down and turned his attention back to his Infomercials.

I opened the door and stepped out into the chilly night air, pulling my black button-down sweater tighter around my thin torso. I looked around and went to the right, heading for what seemed to be an abandoned house. I had never seen anyone walk in or out of it, and there was never a light on.

I walked over and, after a brief look at the house number-779-I climbed up the ivy and sat on the cold roof, crossed my legs and rested my chin in my hands, staring at the bright night stars. In the city, you could never see anything, but out here, on the very outskirts, you could see every single beam of light poking through the fabric of night.

_I could be a poet. _I thought, smirking. _Or a writer._

"Every single beam of light, poking through the fabric of the night..." I whispered to myself.  
___

Todd Casil stared at the paper in front of him, trying to see the words in the darkness. His father had decided that no one could use lights, and since Todd's mother never used them anyway, and his father stayed at the computer all day, Todd was the only one to give anything up. His parents hated him, and so did most of the kids at school, except for Pepito and Destiny.(I keep wanting to call Destiny Nikki... Damn.)

After a few more minutes, Todd shut the book and walked to the window, sliding it open and climbing onto the roof. Once he got there, he shivered and regretted not bringing a jacket. He sat there for a moment, before a voice cut through the silence.

"Who the hell are you?"  
Todd jumped and almost fell off the roof. He turned his head to the left and noticed a figure dressed all in black, staring at him. It's figure suggested it was a girl, that, and the shoulderlength hair.

"W-wh-who are you?" he stammered.

"Who are you?" Something about her seemed familiar... her voice maybe? Where did he know her from...?

"My name's Elly. Elly C." Todd's eyes widened more, if that was even possible.

"Y-you go to my school! You're in my class!"

Elly pulled a flashlight from her pocket and shone it in his face, making him squint. "Oh! Hey, you're that Casil kid, aren't you? You hand out with horn-boy and Destiny!"

"His name's Pepito, and yeah, I do." Elly flicked off the light, plunging them back into darkness with nothing but the moon.

"Why are you here?" Elly asked.

"I live here."

"Really?"  
"Mmmyep."

"Huh. I've never _seen _anyone walk in or out of here." she put a finger to her chin. "And the lights are never on. You can't blame me for thinking it was abandoned."

"N-no, I can't." Todd tried his hardest to put on a brave face, but it just looked like he was about to puke. This girl was _spooky._

"Uh, w-w-where do you live?" Todd stammered. "I've never seen any kids around here..."

"I live right over there." Elly pointed at a house that looked like it was about to fall down, with boarded up windows and a crudely cut lawn, like with scissors. Todd's eyes widened more, if that was even possible.

"Y-you're the s-s-scary neighbor mans daughter!?" he squeaked. Elly blinked twice, then her eyes widened.

"Oh my... HOLY SHIT!" She stood up suddenly, and Todd emetted a loud 'Squee'. She pointed at him wildly. "You're Squee! Johnny talks about you all the time!"

"I... I..." Todd stuttered, backing away from her pointed finger, almost falling off the roof again.

"Don't worry." Elly smirked. "I won't tell 'the scary neighbor man'. From what I hear, he likes to scare you. And from rumors at school, you're still pretty scared of everything."

"Th...Thanks?" Todd looked at the girl, slightly confused. She looked at him for a couple more seconds, then blinked. Elly made a sound and grasped her head, closing her eyes tightly.

_Give up-kill him-clickclick-he's the one-FEED-go away go away i'm busy leave me alone-FEED ME_

"...Elly?" Todd reached out to touch her lightly on the arm.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed, leaping off the roof and running toward her house. Todd stared after her.

_I would avoid her, Todd._ the voice of Shmee warned.

"Why?" Todd asked. "She doesn't seem that crazy. Not like the crazy neighbor man, anyway."

___

A dark figure stared at the girl crouching by her bed, head in her hands and a veil of black hair covering her face and terrified tears.

_It'sssss begun._ It hissed, disapearing in a 'poof' of smoke.

___

Notes-

+According to Jhonen Vasquez, Johnny adores comercials and infomercials. Why is completally beyond me.

+Elly belongs to me, and Destiny and Mrs. Smith belong to the awesomness that is InvaderZATR. As far as I can tell, Gabriella and other people belong to themselves, cuz they're real. I think. Correct me if I'm wrong, K, Nikki?

+ Mayhem belongs to me and Nate, and just to clear this up- when I say English, I mean people living in England. Get it? Cuz Mayhem has a English/British accent. Like my cousin Annabell. Heehee!

+If anyone wants a pic of Elly, go to my Deviantart. The links on my profile page. And if it isn't there, is coming soon.

+Oh, and by the way, the name 'Nikki' means 'Victory of the People'. My name means Everlasting Life. :(


	5. Valentines Days Special

Dirge: Okay, first: I want to wish you all a Happy Valentines Day! I hope you all spend the holiday with your special someone! (okay, so it's late. My internet's been out cuz of all the snow)

And, now that that's done, I'd first like to announce that Nikki couldn't be here today. She's grounded until April (I don't know why) so I'm inadvertently going solo today. *sniff*

So here's to you, Nikki. I'm glad you PM'd me about it, because I thought you got run over by a car or something. This chapter is an idea from her, and I thought it was a good idea for Valentines Day. Of course, it will have no part in any later chapters. It's like a mini-chapter, something that doesn't go along with the story line at all. So don't review saying 'how does this go with the story' or something like that. I just explained this to you. (sigh)

Destiny belongs to InvaderZATR, Johnny and company belong to Jhonen Vasquez, Elly belongs to me, and Kraft Macaroni belongs to the Kraft corporation. Thank you.

**3 + 3= :)**

"Darn it, Destiny! How are you so good at this?"

"I'm the one that owns the Y-Box 360, remember?"

"Damn you and your Y-Box owning soul!"

"You can't damn me. I'm best friends with the Anti-Christ." Destiny stuck out her tongue.

In case you were wondering, Elly is currently trying to beat Destiny at Portal on the Y-Box. It was the seventh game, and Elly was failing miserably.

"Okay. I'm bored." Elly sat down on the floor and leaned back, resting her head on the floor.

"Bored of Portal? Gasp!" Destiny put a hand over her mouth in mock astonishment, then put the game up and sat down next to her dark haired friend.

"You're so lucky your parents are still together." Elly said, her hand over her eyes. "My mom and dad went on one date."

"What happened?" Destiny asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I dunno." Elly was silent for a second. "He tried to 'immortalize the moment."

"What does that mean?"

"Hell if I know."

The two sat there silently for a moment, and then a sneaky smile spread across Destiny's face.

"What are you thinking?" Elly faked a worried tone.

"We're going to get your parents back together."

Elly shot up into a sitting position and stared at her friend in astonishment. "You're going to _what?"_

"Not me. Us." Destiny pointed at herself, then Elly, as if to prove her point. "We're going to plan a special dinner and, somehow get them to kiss and get back together."

"Wow." Elly looked at the floor, then back to Destiny again. "I think we're gonna need help from your Anti-Christ friend for this one. I'm pretty sure that Devi's not terrified on Nny anymore, but I'm sure that she hates him. She tells him that... how many times a day?" A pause to think. "About six."

Destiny laughed without humor. "'ll need his help.C'mon, he lives just down the street."

Actually, it turned how he lived two streets away, but Elly placed that on the fact that Destiny knew that she was too lazy to want to walk two streets, so made up the fact that he lived 'just down the street'.

"Liar."

"Well, we're here, aren't we."

"Fuck you." Elly looked again at the two story red-brick house, and at the pillar of smoke rising from the chimney. "Why the hell is there so much smoke coming out of that chimney?"  
"That's exactly it. Hell."

"_Hell_ is under they're _house_?!"

"Mmyep."

"That's just-"

"Amigas!" The two girls looked up to see Pepito climbing down from the roof, Todd not far behind him. "Hola!" Destiny waved and started the walk up the path, "Hey, Pito! Why're you on the roof?"

"Todd and I were cleaning out the gutters for Father. You'd be surprised how many souls and trash from Hell gets stuck up there." Pepito shrugged.  
"_Squee_ was helping?" Elly raised an eyebrow. Pepito shot her a look for calling Todd Squee, and then looked at the pale, trembling boy beside him. "Well, I cleaned the gutters for Father, while he sat as far away from the chimney as he could get, curled up in a trembling ball and 'squeed' over and over again. He prayed for a while, but then I told him to stop. So he did."

"Hm." Destiny looked at Todd and decided he was very cute when he was scared.

"So, why are you guys here?" Pepito asked, brushing of dirty hands.  
"Elly and I decided that we-"

"You."

"_I_ decided that we were going to get Elly's parents back together with a special dinner or something. And, since you're the Anti-Christ, I thought it might help if we just asked you to do it."

"Sorry, chica," Pepito stole a glance back to the house, "I don't have the power to do that. And if I did, Father would be furious, at the least."

"Why?" Elly inquired.

"Waste-Lock stuff. The system."

"Ah."

Elly was ready to go home in defeat and play some more Portal, but Destiny wasn't going to give up so easily. "Then can you at least help us plan a dinner or something? Like, pretty please?" Destiny begged. Pepito blinked at her slowly, then sighed. "Sure. Why not."

"Awesome!" Destiny pumped a fist in the air. "Okay, you guys pick out the fanciest place is town, and Elly and I will go pick up her parents." Elly was about to protest, but Destiny grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away, back towards her own house.

**3 + 3= :)**

"You're going to _what?_" Devi looked at Elly and her friend in astonishment.

"We're going to take you and Johnny to the fanciest dinner place in town!" Elly explained in a mono-tone.

"You could at _least _sound enthusiastic." Destiny hissed quietly, to which Ely shrugged.

"No _way _am I going to dinner with him." Devi pointed an angry finger at Johnny, who was leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed. "He tried to kill me!"

"But you had a daughter with him at the first date. He hasn't killed you yet." Elly said, and earned a glare from both parents. And both had a withering glare, I might add.

"But we already bought it!" Destiny whined, telling a small white lie. "And you guys don't even have to sit at the same table!"

Elly looked at Destiny, and Destiny winked, tapping the pocket with her cell phone in it.

"Well..." Johnny stood up and walked over. "We might as well, right?"

"..." Devi sighed, and nodded. "As long as I don't have to sit near him."

"Great!" Destiny clapped once, clasping her hands together. "This'll be fun!"

**3 + 3= :)**

"They won't be sharing a table?" Elly asked once they were outside. "Doesn't this make the complete opposite effect of what you are trying to accomplish?"

"Of course they'll be sharing a table." Destiny scoffed, pulling out her cell phone and starting to diel Pepito's number. "When they get there, we'll make sure there's only one table left, so they have to. Get it? And we'll be watching the whole time."

"We're going to be there?"

"Not exactly." Destiny smirked, and put the phone to her ear.

"Hello? Pito! We need disguises, and fast!

**3 + 3= :)**

Elly looked down at herself and grimaced. "This is _so_ not the disguise I had in mind."

Destiny zipped up the back of Elly's red dress. "Yeah, well, did you think we were going to put on wigs or something? Stupid!"

After her dress was zipped up, Elly turned around and moaned. Perfect blue eyes, a straight, pretty nose, and full red lips looked back, a face surrounded by wavy, perfectly placed blond hair. She was three full inches taller, and had a very, very good body. "I look like a living Barbie doll!" Elly closed her eyes and covered her face.

"_I _think you look good." Pepito smirked. He was wearing a black tux and a red tie, matching his straight red hair and black eyes. Todd, on the other hand, was a very thin Mexican-American with dyed purple hair and glasses wearing the same tux as Pepito. Destiny also looked like a Barbie doll, but with brown hair and green eyes, wearing a long green dress.

"If I bend over in this," Elly tugged at her dress, "My ass would show."  
"...And?" Elly glared at Pepito and punched him in the arm. "You pervert!" She looked back in the mirror. "I think my parents would have a heart attack if they saw me like this. Can't I just be a grown up version of myself?"  
"Not really." Pepito straightened his tie. "You look too much like Devi."

"Do not!" Elly grimaced and started to sit down, but decided against it.

"So..." Todd looked around. "I'm going to sit at a table with Destiny, and Pepi will be with Elly?"

"Sure." Destiny shrugged, happy with the thought of Todd sitting-alone-at a table with her. "We didn't have seating arrangements, but thanks for making them, Todd!"

"Amigos, we have to get going." Pepito pointed at his watch. "Lly, you man that... ordering thing, and I'll sit at a back table and wait for you."

"Sure." Elly sighed and left the janitors closet, pulling her dress up and down at the same time so that nothing would show. "God, I look like a slut." she murmured to herself.

"Cheerful, Lly, cheerful!" Destiny called out.

Elly sighed and pulled on a name tag- Lee.

Lucky for her, she wouldn't have to be a server for that long, because Johnny and Devi were first in line. There were three tables left, and two were taken up by her friends. Actually, it was rarely a busy place, but two factors held the busyness- It was Valentines Day, and Pepito had put lots of doppelgangers out at different tables.

"Hi, my name's Lee!" Elly plastered a huge, happy smile on her face to cover the grimace that was trying to surface because of her high, preppy voice. Johnny's eye twitched, and Devi sighed.

"I'll show you to your seats!" _Sound like Gabriella, Elly, sound like Gabriella. _Pepito's voice rang in her head. Damn telepathy. "Now, the kids that bought your seat asked to put you both at separate tables, but we're so crowded, I'm sorry to say that you have to sit at the same table."

"What?" Devi stopped and stepped back. "No! No way am I going to sit by him!" She started to walk toward the door, but Johnny grabbed her.

"Look. Lly payed for this, so we might as well _try_."

"Fine."

Elly, or 'Lee', as she was called now, sat them at a table in the center, where Pepito, Todd, Destiny and her could watch.

"Can we have a different server?" Johnny asked, a twinge of murder sounding in his voice.

"Well, sure!" Elly smiled. _At least you won't be killed now by your own father._ Pepito said. Elly glared at him, then smiled at her parents. "I'll be over there with my... boyfriend.... if you need me, and I'll send someone else over right away!"

Elly went over to Destiny and growled, "Your turn. Now."

"Wow, I can't believe they actually fell for that." Pepito laughed as she sat down, his voice with a thick Irish accent. "You looked like you wanted to strangle somebody."

"Yeah." Elly agreed. "You."

"Touchy." Pepito backed off, then smirked. "Boyfriend?"

"Shut up." Elly grumbled, crossing her arms. "It's all I could think of. And why the hell am I wearing this slutty dress?!"

"Because it came with the disguise." Pepito defended. "And besides," he leaned forward and wiggled his eyebrows. "You look pretty hot in it."

Elly was stumped for a second, and then her face turned bright red. "Sh-shut up! You're just hitting on the disguise!"

"Am I?" Pepito asked. "Am I really, chica?"

Elly was about to reply, when Destiny appeared. "Keep your eyes on them, guys!" she hissed.

"Fine." Pepito looked toward the two people in the center out of the corner of his eye. Elly stared at him, mouth slightly open.

"And then he just ran toward the bathroom, yelling 'Somebody put shit in my pants!'" Devi was saying to a bemused Johnny. "God, the next day he wanted another date. But he had shit in his pants, which is the most childish thing to do." Johnny nodded.

_"He still likes her."_ Pepito realized, furrowing his eyebrows. Elly noticed the look and searched his face, as if trying to read his mind. Pepito kept the small fact to himself.

After about an hour, Devi and Johnny were engaged in an awkward silence over steak and french fries. Todd and Destiny were talking about something, with quick glances over to the two people they were spying on. And then...

"Hey faggots." A tall, buff bellhop named Chunk stopped in front of the table and grinned. "Dining together because you were blown off my your dates? You guys are fags. You're so skinny, like that Casil kid at my school."

Todd put his head in his arms.

Johnny stood up, eyes narrow. "What. Did. You. Call. Her?" He spoke slowly, angrily.

"Ya heard me." Chunk grinned cockily. "A faggot. Not that I wouldn't do her, of course, but two skinny people dining together... It's just wacky."

Elly and friends were out of disguise now, and pulling Devi out the door. "C'mon, Mom." Elly pulled on her mothers arm hard. "We have to get out of here."

"I'd do that pretty thin girl with the black hair, too." Chunk was saying, looking at Elly. "She looks like she does it good."

"Strike three!" they heard Johnny yell, but by then they were out on the street and couldn't see what was happening.

Several moments later, the resteraunt was blown sky high, and Chunk's head rolled to the tips of Elly's boots. She looked over at Destiny, and, over the screaming of Squee, said two words.

"You suck."

**3 + 3= :)**

Notes-

+I'm actually not really sure what Portal is. Destiny talked about it in the (second?) chapter of Fate. I'm not sure if it _is _on the Y-Box, but since the Y-Box doesn't exist, we'll pretend it does.

+The Y-Box is owned by the Maxrosoft corporation. Maxrosoft is based off of Microsoft, and Y-Box 360 after X-Box 360. Microsoft made the X-Box, so Maxrosoft made the Y-Box. Get it?

+Actually, I don't think that Destiny _knows_ that Pepito is the Anti-Christ. I'm sure Elly doesn't, but I just put that in there because I thought it was funny. It turned out not so funny.

+Chunk isn't exactly an OC. He's from Kalian's story Sublime Awakenings. No, he isn't mine.

+Just wanted to say that the resteraunt was actually free. They didn't pay for it at all. It was one of those places that _look _fancy, but really, really isn't. I mean, steak and french fries? Please.

+And I think you should know who belongs to who now. Heh.


	6. Unsociable

My USB drive that holds a project (due tomorrow) that's worth _HALF MY GRADE _is missing. So, as you can guess, I am _really, really_ pissed. It might show in this chapter, so BEWARE!  
~~~~~

Destiny stared out the window and sighed loudly. Elly had been out of school for about a week now. She tried calling her new cell phone, but it kept going to voicemail. She was really getting sick of hearing, "Hey, you've reached Elly C, this is her father Johnny speaking. I'm sure she doesn't want to talk to disgusting, human filth like you. And if you're a boy, fuck with someone else because if you even _think _about touching my daughter, I'll-" It was usually about that point that she hung up. She did NOT want to hear about all the things Elly's insane father did to his victims.

"Chica?" Destiny looked up into the concerned face of Pepito. "You _bien_?"

"I'm fine, Pepito." she sighed. "Just a bit worried about Elly."

"She's fine." Todd interupted from his desk behind Destiny. Both she and Pepito turned around to look at the pale boy. "I... I found out she lives right next to me, and she kinda came over, and..."

"Did something happen?" Pepito leaned over Todd, eyes flaming red. "You're still clean, right? You better still be a virgin. You know how I feel about these things."

"Wha- what?" Todd's brown eyes widened. "How did you come to that conclu-"

"Hey." The three friends looked up. Elly glared down at them through black rimmed eyes. "You better not be talking about me."

Her shoulderlength black hair was messy and sticking up on one side, and black bags ran under her eyes, barely concealed by a thick rim of black eyeliner. She wasn't wearing her usual clothes, just a dark blue hoodie that was five sizes too big and black cargo pants. Instead of her usual boots, she wore tennis shoes.

Destiny was more concerned.

"Lly, are you okay?" she asked, brows knitted together. "Do you need to talk about anything?"

"I'm fine." Elly said in a flat voice. "Just leave me alone."

She went to sit at a back desk, and Todd, Pepito and Destiny shared a look.

_You shouldn't have blown them off like that._ Mayhem's voice spoke clearly through my head, making my head pound. _They won't get off your back now._

_When did you start following me_? I asked in my head, so no one would think I was crazy. Wait. I was. Heh.

_When you started keeping me in your backpack. _Mayhem rolled her nonexistant eyes. _What if they call home? What will your parents say?_

_Devi'll say I'm a Johnny's, and Johnny'll say I'm at Devi's. There. Problem solved._

_It's not solved at all, Lly._

_Just shut up, okay? Give me one day, one fucking day, of silence, okay? OKAY?_

_If you say so._

Mayhem was silent, and I listened to the teacher go on about something you learn in second grade. Whoohoo.

"Elly?" I looked up at Destiny through half closed eyes. Class was over. I must have fallen asleep. "Are you okay?"  
"I'm fine." I told her. "Why do you ask?"

"For one," she waved a hand at my clothing, "this. You'd never wear this on a normal day."

"Says the girl who's known me for about a month now."

"Don't be difficult!" Destiny cried, exasperated. "You look like you haven't slept in months! Is there anyth

-

She stared at the ceiling, watching it spin in circles. Wait. Ceilings don't spin.

_Eat!_ a voice commanded her.

"Not hungry." she replied, pulling herself into a sitting position, much to the protest of her aching stomach.

_What are you, anorexic_? the voice asked, getting louder.

"No. Just not hungry."

_Then go DO something. Go terrorize the kids down the street, or run drunk teens off the road, or something! You can't just stay inside all the time!_

She was about to reply, but her tongue felt thick and dry, and she decided that it wasn't worth the effort.

She waited several minutes before saying anything.

"Watch me." she growled, standing up and staggering over to the table. Her black hair hung limply to her waist, greasy bangs falling into her face. When did her hair get so long? And since when did the table have chunks of red paper mache on it?

_That's your Kollege History teacher, smart one._

"Oh." She paused. "I thought it looked familiar." Another pause. "When did he become all mushy?"

_When you chopped him up and put him in the blender._

"Oh. Right." She took another step and fell, cracking her head on the table and hitting the floor hard. Something inside her chest snapped.

_Eat something, damn you!_ the voice cried angrily.

"You know..." She had a very nice view of the underside of the counter, but it was slowly fading out. "Your accent just gets more and more annoying by the day."

-

ing we need to talk about?"

"No." I said, getting up to go to my next class. "I gotta go. I'm late for my next class."  
"Damn right you are!" Destiny caught up with me. "You've been asleep- or passed out- for all four morning periods _and _lunch! You need to go to the nurses office!"

"I'm fi-ine!" I said, staggering a bit. Pepito caught me before I hit the ground.

"Elly." Pepito said firmly, grasping my arm. "Go. Home."

"No."

"Then go to the office!" he exploded, shaking me by the shoulders. "You are sick, Elly! I can feel it in you aura! You! Are! Sick! Get it through your thick head!"

"Not s...sick..." I pushed him away weakly. "...'m fine... j'st t-tired..." God, why did the floor like me so much!

_Thump._

_-----_

Notes-

+It was short. So sue me.

I may be rushing into this too fast, but I rather like this character development. It's quite nice.


	7. Bite Your Rhymes

It seems that she is moving too fast.  
**Well, he doesn't work anymore. Ever since he fell in love, he's been holding back. Can't you see?**  
Do we really need one this bad?  
**What do you think?**

**Exactly. **

"Do you think she's okay?"  
"She's just suffering from sleep and food depravation."  
"Why the heck hasn't she been sleeping? Or eating? It's not like she's anorexic or anything..."  
"Shh! She's waking up!"  
I opened my eyes slowly, my head pounding. The first thing I saw was Destiny leaning over me, her face creased with worry.  
"What... the hell?" I started, but my head and stomach hurt too much to go on.  
"You haven't been taking care of yourself, amiga." Pepito said from his spot in a corner. His arms were crossed across his broad chest, one eye open.  
"...Have too."  
"Have not."  
"Have too!"  
"You haven't been sleeping at all, Lly." Destiny cut us off. "You haven't been eating, either. You were on the verge of starvation! Your body was just trying to tell you to eat or sleep!"  
"..." I stared at the ceiling. All was quiet for a couple minutes. "...Where am I?" I finally asked.  
"The nurses office." an overly cheery voice informed me. I sat up a bit to catch a glimpse of our grotesquely overweight nurse, Ms. Mechas. "You haven't been taking care of yourself!"  
"You're the fourth person who's told me that." I groaned, lying back down as she took my temperature.  
"Fourth?" Destiny started. "But... only Pepito and I-"  
"You two should get off to class, now." Ms. Mechas waved them away. "Go on! Out!"  
After they left, she sat down in a chair beside me. "I'll need to ask you a few questions, dear."  
"Ask away." I closed my eyes.  
"Have you been eating or sleeping recently?"  
"No."  
"Have you had your vaccinations?"  
"Yes."  
"Are you allergic to anything?"  
"Dogs."  
"Who do you live with?"  
"Depends."  
"That's not an answer. Who do you live with?"  
"Dad."  
"Address?"  
"Why does this matter?"  
The nurse sighed irritably. "Look, we just need to contact your parents. Also, we don't have you in the Skool directory."  
"777 Castle Drive."  
"Mmmhm." A scratching of pencil on paper sounded. "Phone number?"  
I told her.  
"Have you had the chicken pox yet?"  
"When I was three."  
"Flu? Cold?"  
"No."  
"Have you ever exploded and/or imploded?"  
"No."  
"Okay then!" I heard her get up to leave. "I'll come check on you in a little bit. You just lie there like the good little girl you are."  
Click. The door shut.  
I closed my eyes to get some well deserved rest.

_Dear Die-ary,_  
_Things have been getting really weird for me recently. For example, this one voice. Mayhem. She's just suddenly... there._  
_I haven't slept recently. It's just... there are these dreams, and_  
_Oh my god. I'm getting to be like him. Johnny. My dad. He can't sleep either._  
_Of course, he doesn't deal with it by passing out in the middle of Skool, does he?_  
_They... won't shut up. _  
_I'm not making any sense, am I? Good. Maybe if someone reads this they won't get it and then_  
_My head really hurts. I need to go to sleep, eat something. I wish they allowed food in the nurses office. They don't. Not even to somebody passed out due to malnutrition. That's stupid._  
_I wish I hadn't skipped lunch. I heard from Pepito that they had tacos. Not the healthy kind, the greasy, warm, juicy calorie-packed ACTUAL tacos._  
_Shit. Now my mouth is watering._  
_I'm going to go to sleep now._  
_-Lly_

"Where's Elly today?" Squee asked me.  
"She either stayed in the nurses office overnight, or she went home." I informed him. Destiny walked up and pulled a chair up the desk, sitting in it Indian style. Mortals sat the strangest ways.  
"I called her last night." she informed us. "Her mom picked up and told me that she's staying at her house for the next week or so. She'll probably be in Skool again by tomorrow."  
"That's good." I nodded my head.  
"Class, sit down in your seats!" Mr. Spines yelled over the noise of the crowded classroom. Everybody sat down in their own seats and quieted down. I raised a pierced eyebrow at the boy standing in the front of the classroom. Black hair, cut around the ears, a blue and white polo and jeans... Weird. He looked familiar somehow...  
"We've gotten a strange amount of new students recently." Mr. Spines proceeded to say. "Hopefully, this one will be less creepy than our last two." He looked at the boy. "Introduce yourself now."  
The boy grinned. "My name is Dick Grayson, and I just moved here from Gotham City."  
Oh. Shit.  
This'll screw up Dad's plans a lot.

YES! DICK IS HERE! WHOOOOO! I don't think I can not giggle whenever I say that name. Heh. Wow, who would hate their child enough to name them Dick? Hee hee.  
Anyway, yes, that was Pepito in the last part. And once again, I'm sorry it was so short. I suck, don't I?  
Please rate! And review! Yay!  
Any flames will be used to toast your soul in Pepito's basement. See, I upped the punishment.


	8. Bomb This Track

I know some of you are thinking, "Why the hell isn't she updated Crimes and Punishments?"  
Because I have writers block there. So Nyah. *sticks out tongue* See, I know where I'm going with it, but I have no idea how to get there. :( Sucks for you! And me... Sigh... Anyway, enjoy. This is where it starts getting GOOD.  
Sorry that it's short.

"Are you sure you're ready to go to Skool, Lly?" Devi's concerned voice stopped me as I opened the door. I turned around and grinned. "I'm gonna be fine, Mom. I've already missed the first half of Skool, and I've been out for a week."  
"You sure?"  
"Sure."  
"...Okay."  
I walked outside. It felt good to feel the approaching spring air through my shirt sleeves. That day I was wearing a black long sleeved dress over purple and black striped leggings and new, plain combat boots that Mom had found in the back of her closet.  
Oh yeah, I was calling her Mom now, too. I decided to try it, instead of hating her for leaving me at Johnny's doorstep all those years ago. It's been thirteen years, after all. And I have a big heart.  
Heh. Yeah right.  
I got to Skool just as the lunch bell rang. I pushed my way through the river of students (ever done that? It's hard as hell) to the lunchroom and to the lunch table where my friends were at. Todd, Pepito and Destiny were listening to somebody new talk, and as I approached, Destiny looked up. "Ohmigod! Elly! You're okay!" She hugged me, and I stood there for a couple of seconds. "Uh, Des? Remember what I said about hugging?"  
"Oh. Right." She stepped back and grinned. "Lly," I looked toward Todd, who was motioning towards the new kid. "This is-"  
"Oh my god." My eyes widened. "No way. No fucking way."  
"Hey, Lly." He waved, and I blinked.  
"Holy fuck. Dick?" We stood there for a couple more minutes before Destiny broke in. "So, uh... Do you guys know each other?"

"Why are you here, bird boy?" I hissed after I pulled him away.  
"I transferred." He shrugged, like it was no big deal.  
"I didn't ask how," My eyes narrowed. "I asked why."  
"My mom and dad moved here..."  
"No, they didn't." I sighed and crossed my arms, looking at the ceiling. "You told me about your parents, Dick. I think I know why you're here."  
"You... you do?" His eyes widened.  
"Yeah," I grinned. "Ya missed me!"  
Pause.  
"Oh. Right. Of course!" He grinned. "Of course I did!"  
"Nah, I'm humoring you." I waved my hand like I was swatting at a bug. "If you're looking for my parents, too bad, they left. So sad!"  
"Why would I-"  
"Oh, please." Sigh. Boys are so stupid. "I know about you and Batman, Dick. Or should I say..." I narrowed my eyes for the effect. "Robin."  
"You-" The shock on his face was funny.  
"'S not that hard to guess." I shrugged. "And don't worry, I won't tell anyone."  
"Um." He was at a loss for words. I guess that losing your 'secret' identity is kinda hard.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Todd asked as Elly pulled Dick away. Destiny shrugged. Elly put her face up close to Dick's and seemed to be growling something, as her teeth were clenched. Her fists were balls at her sides, and you could almost see the heat radiating off of her.  
"Do you think she likes him?" Pepito asked suddenly. His friends both glanced at him. "She doesn't, right?"  
"I don't think so." Todd looked back to the two. "She looks pretty mad."  
Elly leaned back, crossed her arms, and looked at the ceiling briefly before looking back at Dick and speaking to him again. He drew back, shock on his face, and she laughed before continuing. She grinned, and he grinned too. Then she waved her hand, and Dick's face fell into confusion before turning into horror. She shrugged, and then walked out of the cafeteria. Dick stood there for a second, before turning and walking out the other way.  
"That was weird." Destiny said, and Todd and Pepito agreed. She turned back to Pepito and gave him a sneaky smile. "So, what was that about Elly liking Dick? Are you... Jealous?"  
Pepito was silent for a second. And then he told them the truth. Well, most of it, anyway.

As soon, as I got out of the cafeteria, I ran towards the girls bathroom. Once there, I forced some girls out of the bathroom and pulled out my cell phone. One ring.  
Two rings.  
_Click_  
"Hello?"  
"Mom!" Thank god. "Get over to Johnny's right away!"  
"I'm here." She paused. "What's going on?"  
"Robin's here." I pushed it all out without pausing for breath. "He transferred to our Skool and he's looking for you guys and he just left the school and I think he's heading for your house and YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF TOWN NOW!"  
"Lly?" Johnny was suddenly there. "Your mom just rushed into the bedroom with a suitcase. What's going on?"  
I told him, and Johnny was silent for a second. "Come home now."  
"No," I told him, "I need to stay here while you run off. Look, it'll be suspicious if I suddenly leave! He'll just track us down again, and again! I'll stay at Destiny's, or Pepito's, or Todd's! Please, Dad!"  
There was a silence at the shock of the use of the word 'Dad'. "Johnny." I corrected myself. "Go. Please. Now. I'll be fine."  
"Okay." The phone was passed to Devi. "Elly, we're going to go... somewhere. you be safe, okay? Stay at a friends house, get good grades and-"  
"Stay out of the basement!" I heard Johnny call.  
"-and sleep and eat, okay? Take care of yourself!"  
"Thanks, Mom." I nodded. "Be safe."  
"Okay."  
_Click._

_Dear Die-Ary,_  
_I'm screwed._

Yay for OOCness!  
Nikki, you better get those chapters cranking as soon as you get back on, hear me? :(


	9. Royally Fucked

Dirge: Okay, I was grounded. Again. Long story.

but here I am, and that's what matters. And my laptop is back on! Yay! Okay, technically, I'm still grounded, And my mom _kinda _doesn't know that my laptop turned back on. But I'm here. So hi.

-----

I walked out of the bathroom and back into the lunchroom, cool and collected. Cool and collected. Cool and-

"Hey freak, have you been crying? All your emo makeup is running down your hideous face." a student chided. I resisted the urge to punch his lights out.

Cool. And. Collected.

One last wipe at my eyes, and I went back to my friends. I sat by Destiny, who seemed to be texting somebody. When I asked her who, she replied, "Dad."

"Why?"

"Long story."

Well, that was a nice conversation.

When she had finished, she looked around. "Hey, where'd Dick go?"

"I have absolutely no idea." I said as I bit into my hotdog.

-----

That night, after school, I had stayed at the library late to cram for a history test that was apparently half my grade. At nine o'clock, I left the library with an aching head and a empty stomach. What was worse was that Mayhem wouldn't stop talking, mostly to herself, apparently cursing in what seemed like Old English.

"Hey, May?" I asked her. She was silent for a moment.

"Yes, Elly?" she asked, that English accent as annoying as ever.

"Please do me a favor and _shut the steaming fuck up_."

"Touchy, touchy." Mayhen tisked, but went silent. What was she saying, or cursing, anyway? I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't noticed myself walking right into somebody until it was too late. I fell backwards, and my books and papers went flying everywhere. Cursing loudly, I started to gather them.  
"Elly?"

"Dick."

He stood there stupidly for a second before bending down to help me.

"What the hell, Dick." I pushed him away and got up, forgetting to pick up my notebook and history book. "What the hell."

"What the hell what?" he asked, and I hissed, "YOU know, you jerkwad. Following me and my parents all the way back to this shithole and stalking me as I went home."  
"I wasn't stalking you!" Dick frowned. "I was walking to the library to see you."  
"AHAH!" I pointed at him, long blue fingernails almost touching his nose. "And how would you know that if you weren't stalking me?"  
The rich boy was silent for a second, and I shivered. Goddamn weather.

"Look, Elly, I'm sorry." he started, "Bats won't take no for an answer, and he's trying to get Two-Face back in Arkham, so he sent me. He said that you'd probably know what's best for your dad and let us put him where he belongs- in the mental institute."

I spat on the ground in disdain. "Just thinking about that puts a sour taste in my mouth, bird boy. I know what's best for my dad, and it's sure as hell not the MENTAL INSTITUTE 8 HOURSE AWAY IN FUCKING ARKHAM!" I was shouting by now, and turned to walk away. He grabbed my arm and pulled me back, so my face was inches away from his. He had grown taller- he was now an inch taller than me, not vice versa.

"Lly." he breathed. "Please. I don't mean to be offensive, but your dad is a loony and he needs proper care."

"Proper care isn't stowed away in a padded cell." I tried to pull away, but he pulled me closer so that our noses were just barely touching.

"Elly..." a sigh. "What went wrong between us?"

"I dunno..." I was suddenly lost in his deep blue eyes, and we both were silent before I jerked back into reality. "Maybe the fact that you helped put my father in a crazy house."

"Or the fact that you clonked me over the head with a metal bar."

"Or that."

More silence. I wanted to pull away, but I couldn't.

Mayhem was strangely silent.

-----

**This is it!**

It?  
**The beginning...**

-----

Before I knew what was going on, Dick pressed his lips against mine, and my eyes widened to impossible preportions. I stood there, still, before I closed my eyes and kissed back.

A couple seconds later, there was a cough in the back of my mind and I fully processed what he was doing and exactly where his hands where.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I pushed him off me and spat on the ground again, spitting out what was left of his siliva.

"I-I'm sorry, Elly, I-"

"Fuck you, you bastard!" I grabbed my backpack and ran away, tears collecting at the corners of my eyes. How could I let him _do _that to me? Or even begin to? And how could I _like_ it?

I ran the rest of the way home, sobbing.

-----

The next morning, I hoped to High Heaven that Dick wouldn't be at school.

Luckily for me, he wasn't.

Sadly, Destiny wasn't either.

I had breakfast in the cafeteria, sitting silently across from Todd, who was spreading ranch dressing on a piece of toast. Strange kid.

Destiny didn't come until the period before lunch. I saw her walking through the halls, but she ducked into a nearby classroom. She wouldn't look at me all throughout class, and sat with her other 'friends' at lunch time. Todd had counciling and Pepito had basketball practice, so I sat alone at a table in the corner. Several kids pelted me with jelly beans. I snapped my teeth at them and they scurried away, leaving me with a nice lunch of jelly beans and skittles.

Finally, at the end of the day, I couldn't take it anymore. I followed her to her moms house, and just outside, I grabbed her shoulder and whirled her around. She hissed angrilly and pulled away.  
"What's wrong, Des?" I asked her using the nickname only she would let me use.

"Don't call me that, _Elly_." my friend snapped. "How could you not tell me?"  
"Tell you what?" A sinking feeling was developing in my stomach, filling it with dread. She didn't...

"I heard you and Dick talking-yelling-last night. I was walking to the library to grap some books and heard you guys fighting. I hid behind a dumpster and watched, just in case I needed to break it up. I heard you yelling about Arkham and Batman and the Joker, and saw you guys kiss. I didn't know what you were fighting about, so I went home and looked it up on the computer, and found _this_." At some point in her rant, she had pulled a crumpled sheet of paper from her pants pocket and shoved it at me. "I was at the library all morning searching, just to make sure, but now I am."

I skimmed the page, the dread in my stomach veering towards despair.

_**April 30, 2006- Gotham Times**_

_**The mass murdered known only as Johnny C. has escaped from prison-**_

_**killed the Joker-**_

_**Wounded Robin-**_

_**Killed half a dozen-**_

_**Wanted-**_

_**With family Elly C. and Devi D.-**_

_**77k reward-**_

I couldn't read any more. I looked at Destiny and was started to see tears in her eyes.

"Elly, I trusted you. You told me the only reason you moved was a change of scenery. Tell me why I shouldn't turn you in, Elly, tell me why the hell why!" She was screaming now, and I reached out. She jerked away and opened the door.

"Elly C., you and I are history."

_SLAM._

-----

The next day was a Thursday. Elly's new-ish phone told her so. It also told her that she was six hours late for school.

She didn't care.

But, after a while, she forced herself out of bed. As she was walking toward the kitchen, she felt drawn to the basement. Something was telling her to go down there; something bad.  
She ran out of the house and the rest of the way to school. Some people looked at her strange, because she was in her PJs, but at the moment she really didn't give a crap. A Three Days Grace t-shirt and fuzzy black pants weren't _that _scarce.

Her first class was Science, and then, the dreaded History test. It was an open-note test, so she was glad she had her notebook and history book in her bag.

Elly walked in and sat next to Todd, who looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"What's up?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's the apocolypse..." he shuddered. Yes, he had been talking to Pepito that day, obviously.

Elly looked around, bored, and noticed a new face. Well, she couldn't see their face, as they were turned and were talking to Gabriella and the other _evil_ cheerleaders, but she could see chest-length black hair, natural. Huh. A cheerleader that didn't dye their hair. Amazing.

After science, Elly hurried to History. Test time!

"Okay, students," Mrs. Syther grouched, "Take out your notebooks. You can't succeed without them. Not that you'll succeed anyway..." She took a long, hard drag on her ciggarete. "Fucking kids..." she murmured under her breath.

Elly opened her bag to grab her books, only to realize that they weren't there.

"Shiiiit!" she hissed quietly, "shit shit shit!"

_When I ran into Dick..._ She froze. _My notebooks! I didn't pick them up!_

A musty smell surrounded her, and she looked up into the pockmocked face of Mrs. Syther.

"Do we have a _problem_, Ms. C.?" she asked coldly.

"Uhm... no..."

"Please show me your books."

"I-"

"Now."  
"I don't... I don't have them."

"Failure!" Mrs. Syther's face lit up as she pointed at the poor girl and screeched. "FAILURE! EPIC FAIL!"

The rest of the students joined in, and Elly growled. _Why oh WHY didn't I stay home today?_ She asked herself.

-----

After a downing period of history and then failing a Math pop quiz, Elly started to slouch her way home when she noticed something. It was the new girl. But...

It was Destiny. In a cheerleading uniform. Arm in arm with Gabriella. Heading to Cheerleading practice.

Something inside her snapped.

-----

Notes-

Old English- this doesn't mean Shakespeare writing. Elly would be able to understand that. I mean Old English like Beowolf in its original text.


	10. Bring the Pain

Dirge: GO CHECK OUT INVADERZATR'S NEW CHAPTERS! NOW, OR I WILL KEEL YOOOOOU!!!!  
That reminds me... M, you better run, because Nikki's gonna beat you with an oversized banana.

Quick note- this story _is _set in 2010, not any earlier and not any later. You'll see why you need to know this.

"Destiny!" I rushed over and grabbed her arm, trying not to touch that.... cheerleaders uniform... Oh gawd. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

She blinked. "Like, going to cheerleading practice. Duh." And in a Valley-Girl accent too!

"Yeaaah, freak." Gabriella turned around and crossed her arms. "Like, Destiny is, like, on _our_ side now. She, like, finally, like, realized that you're, like, a bad influence and an overall, like, bitchy freak."

"Is your voicebox skipping or something?" I hissed angrily before turning to Destiny. "This is going _way_ overboard, Destiny. I understand if you don't want to be my friend, which is probably a good idea in the long run, but DES! Open your eyes! We _hate_ her! Remember what she _did_ to you?"

I was grasping her arm so tight now I was probably leaving claw marks, but I didn't care. How could she do this? "HOW COULD YOU!"

"Go away, freak!" She pushed me off her and onto the ground, then started rubbing her arm. "God."

I sat there for a second, then stood up. I brushed myself off silently, my face blank, then looked at Destiny with a monotone glare, my eyes half closed, then moved my expression to Gabriella. Then I turned on my heel and walked away at a normal pace.

Who needs friends, anyway?

````  
_I never knew I held so much anger, so much hate_

_I wish I could start over with a clean, new slate_

_I'd just try to live happier, try not to break_

_But I guess that's not a path I can take_

_I can't think these thought, even though they're all that's there_

_I think I would be worrying everybody, I'm sorry for it all_

_I'm no Angel; I had no wings, I was bound to fall_

_Time and time again, I tell myself there's no reason for this_

_Or maybe the reason is clear, what did I miss?_

_I think there's a reason for why I wish to die_

_Maybe there's a reason to why I cry_

_My head is a mess, the voices are louder_

_I left them for a minute to look in a mirror_

_I wiped the tears and blood from my eyes so I could see clearer_

_But I still don't know the woman who stared back_

_She was broken, and her soul was black_

_Is that who I've become, is that who I am?_

_Well, I guess I've lost my ability to even try to give a damn._

_I'm here, and there are promises I don't want to break_

_I'm not sure how much more of this I can take_

_Who's it worse for, me or you?_

_I feel like a bitch because every word of this is true._

_I want to turn away, be forgotten over time_

_I think I'm breaking again, I am not fine..._

-Ellesandra C., 2016

Written in blood on the side of a wall

Destiny looked after Elly, a hint of fear in her eyes. She had seen Elly mad, but not like that. It was like the fires of hell were burning within her emerald green eyes.

"Destiny, like, come on!" Gabriella's voice rang through her thoughts, jerking her out quickly. "We're, like, going to be late for practice!"

"Coming!" The once-Goth girl ran after her new 'friends'.

````  
I went home after the encounter with Destiny. I just couldn't take it anymore. I idly wonder whether to even go to school after now, now that my parents were gone. Of course, they would be coming back, right?

Right?

I was ripped out of my thoughts when somebody knocked on the winder (I was at Devi's house). I glanced over to see Robin peering through. He mouthed, _Can I come in?_

I thought about just leaving him out there to freeze in the chilly March air, but somehow decided against it. I sighed, walked over and opened the window, then stepped back so he could slip in. He did, but fell over and onto the floor with a _bang_, making an ass of himself.

"Robin." I said, monotoned.

"Uh, hey, Elly." He stood up, his face red. "Are your parents here?"

"What do you think?"

He cursed. "Elly, I told you that it's best for your parents! And you! You'll go crazy!"

Ha. As if he knew 'crazy'. Wait... He did. Shit.

"You should leave now."

"What?"

"You. Should. Leave. Now." I took a menacing step forward,

"Elly, I'm sorry, I-"

"GET OUT!" I screamed, and he left that room faster than a Robin could fly. Hehe. Puns.

_I think that boy likes you..._ Mayhen laughed.

"Oh, you really think so? I never knew." I said sarcastically, then went into the bathroom.

_"Like, Destiny is, like, on our side now. She, like, finally, like, realized that you're, like, a bad influence and an overall, like, bitchy freak."_

I growled as I stared in the mirror. My straight black hair was almost down to my chest now, and bangs were getting in my face and covering my bright green eyes.

I went down to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. All our scissors were covered in blood, but for some reason the knives weren't. Wierd.

I walked back to the bathroom and stared at myself in the mirror before grabbing my hair and bunching it into a ponytail.

_Skrit_

I kept doing that with the rest of my hair until it was all one length. Then, after a moment, I put the blade to my wrist.

_Skrit_

--

The next day, I didn't go out all dressed up. What was the point? I grabbed a black shirt that said 'DO NOT TAUNT' in a white box, black jeans, and my combat boots. After a moment, I grabbed a trenchcoat that Dad had left on the couch.

I actually got to class on time for once, and no one was in my classroom but Todd, Destiny and that one girl Carmen or whatever. I walked past Todd and smiled. He almost fainted; well I _did_ look an aweful lot like Johnny now. Then I slowly made my way to Destiny and her friend. I stopped and coughed. They turned to look at me.

I smiled a very Johnny-like smile.

"Helloooo, girls. Having fun in your perfectly pink pixie world? Destiny, have you smoked yet? Hanging out with a bad crowd can do that to you, you know. But wait..." I put a finger to my cheek, put a hand on my hip and rolled my eyes to the ceiling to stare at it in a very sarcastic pose. "This isn't the 'bad crowd' to you anymore, is it? Ah, well." I shrugged and smiled again, my eyes slits. "Have fun, darling."

I walked away and sat at the back of class and started to read, ignoring their eyes on me. I was reading a book called 'FADE'... It was very good, actually.

After class started, I didn't bother to look up from reading. Near the end, I heard Mrs. Sither walk up to me and stand next to my desk. I turned disintrested eyes to her.

"May I help you?" I asked, keeping my voice and face monotone. I was getting quite good at it, in fact.

"WHY are you reading in class, Ms. C.?" she asked me.

"Well, I'm in the middle of a very good book." I informed her, holding it up. "It's about-"  
"I don't _care_ if it's a good book, Elly." She leaned over and I smelled garlic on her breath. "DON'T READ DURING CLASS!" she screamed in my ear.

I stared at her for a moment, then got up and grabbed my bookbag. "Okay then. No problem. I'll just go read outside of class."

And with that, I left

--

"Helloooooo, freak." At lunch, I was lucky enough to be visited by Gabriella and Co. And guess who was with them? Destiny, of course! Well, whoop diddly ding dong.

"Helloooooo, freak." I replied. "Or should I say, Freaks."

"Heh, like we're the freaks, you disgusting... uh... FREAK!" one girl piped up.

"Oooh, nice comeback." I shot back. "Where'd you get that? The Cheerleaders Guide to Stupidity?"

"Actually, I did." She smiled, looking proud. "Thank you for noticing!"  
I could hit myself with a fish. Idiots. (Elly hates fish)

"You look, like, even more freakier than usual, freak." another girl sneered. "Didja girlfriend dump you?"  
I blinked. Then blinked again. "Are you calling me gay?" I asked in astonishment.

"Yes." A smile spread across her face. "Did I hit a weak spot?"

"No, I-"

"Hey everybody!" Gabriella shouted out. "Elly's a fag!" She turned to me."Have fun, faggot." Then she turned and walked away, hips swinging exageratedly. Everyone in the lunchroom was staring at me, most laughing and the rest yelling out, "Fag!" or asking me not to ask them out- those were girls, FYI.

I put my head on the table. Could this day _get_ any worse?

--

Turns out it could. There was a pop quiz in every class in the afternoon, and I failed every one. Then I had to stay after school because I broke some seniors arm, ribs and both legs for trying to rape me. I was actually pretty lucky not to be sent to jail for that.

I left school rather late that afternoon- the sun was even starting to set. As I was walking down my street, I saw someone familiar- Gabriella. She was walking toward me-alone- to a friends house, I guessed. Or to some boys house. Apparently she had a new boyfriend- I think his name was Torque. Last week it was Damien, and the week before Kenny, and the week before- well, you get the picture.

All the rage from the beginning of my time at Jhonen V. High welled up inside me as I ducked behind a house. As I looked to my right and into a nearby trashcan and saw a half-full bottle of nail polish remover, an idea came to mind, with a bit of help from Mayhem. I slowly picked it up and doused the trench coat sleeve in it, balling it up in my fist so the wet part was facing outward. Just as she walked by me, I jumped out and stuffed it in front of her face. She struggled for a moment, and was too stupid to stop breathing. Nail Polish remover isn't that strong when it comes to making people faint, but she started to hypervenalete, making her breath more in, and she was soon limp. I smiled to myself and dragged her the rest of the twenty feet to Johnny's house. She barely ate at all, so she was pretty light- but I didn't work out, so she was still hard to carry. Just as I closed the door, she came to and started to scream, so I whapped her on the head with a vase. That shut her up pretty fast.

--

After the weekend, I skipped school until the end (it was Monday). I sat outside until the students started to come out. I waited until Destiny and the others came out, then walked up to them. I was happy to hear that they were talking about Gabriella- her parents had reported her missing that morning.

"Hi, guys," I put on an innocent expression, "Have you seen my good friend Gabriella? I haven't seen her lately..."

They stared at me, and I shrugged. "Oh, well. I just hope she isn't... hurt."

And then I turned and walked home.

--

Notes-

-GREEN EYES WILL BECOME IMPORTANT LATER! I'M DON'T KEEP POINTING OUT HER EYE COLOR FOR NO REASON!

-I'm advertising myself now, because I'm selfish! Go visit my Deviantart and admire my art! Hopefully, a picture of Elly will be up there... Soon...

-Where are Kenny and Damien from? Points if you can tell me!


	11. Animal

WARNING- MASSIVE VIOLENCE AHEAD!  
If you don't want no violence and/or get sick easily, don't read on! Of course, if you're like that, why are you reading JtHM anyway? Jeez!

Elly sighed and put her head in her hands. She was hunched over, sitting on the couch, with a huge headache. She decided that this is probably what hangovers would feel like, and she silently vowed never to touch anything near alcoholic- not that she was going to, anyway. "Gabriella..." she started, "Can you please stop screaming?"  
"Like hell if I am, bitch!" Gabriella hissed. "What's the big idea, kidnapping me like this!?"  
"I dunno." Elly shrugged. "I was bored, I guess."  
"Bored? BORED?"she screamed. "You were bored so you kidnapped me and hit me on the head with a vase?"  
"At least I stopped the bleeding." Elly shot back.  
"You FAG!" Gabriella was close to frothing at the mouth. "You total, complete, utter FAGGOT! Do you not care for peoples feelings? You think that you can just waltz in and-"  
"Shut. Up." Elly's voice and position changed as she stood up, her eyes cold and feeling free. "You think you can lecture me on 'feelings' and shit? You've made my life miserable ever since I've come to this fucking place! And what did I do to you? NOTHING! You beat up my best friend, got me suspended, turned my best friend against me, and millions of other things! I think you totally deserve what's coming to you!"  
Gabriella eyes dilated, and she started to tremble. "W-what are you going to do to me?" she stammered.  
"Something that I should have done a looooong time ago." All thought was pushed by Elly's head as she picked Gabriella up and, with the voice of Mayhem urged her on, pulled her down the stairs. She ignored the yelps of pain and the loud thunk of her fake blond head hitting the stairs as they went down. On the first level, Elly propped Gabriella up in the corner, and stood back for a moment, smiling. Humanity was obviously a lie; if somebody as high and powerful as Gabriella could be brought down to the sniveling, sobbing mess that she was now before the dark haired teen, everybody was obviously lying about their lives. "I'm doing what's best for you, you know." Elly sighed as she picked up a knife from the rack behind her, running in feather-lightly along her finger and drawing blood. "Why can't you accept that?"  
"Y-you're crazy!" Gabriella yelped, eyes on the knife Elly was cradling fondly.  
"Am I, Gabby dear?" Elly blinked and leaned forward so that her hair was framing her face and just barely touching her captives tear streaked face. "Have you ever thought that, maybe, all the insane people in the world are actually normal, and it's the normal people that are insane? Gives you something to think about, hmm?" She put a finger to a tear on Gabriella's face. "Oh, you're crying!" Elly made a face at this point. "I always thought tears should be a different color, not just clear. Does red work for you?" She pressed the tip of the knife to the muscle in the corner of the girls eye, and slowly ran down to the chin, tracing the outline of the tear and cutting straight to the bone. Gabriella screamed, and Elly groaned. "Gawd, stop screaming! It can't hurt that bad!" When Gabriella kept screaming, she made a face. "I have a headache. I guess I'll just have to cut out your tongue." She reached in to grab the muscle when Gabriella clamped down, biting her hard enough to draw blood. Elly yelled and jumped back, then snarled at the cheerleader. "You BITCH! I'm trying to save you from a flawed reality, and THIS is how you repay me?" Elly jumped forward and stabbed downward, embedding the knife in her skull. Gabriella screamed again, and Elly proceeded to stab the girl, again and again, until red was all she saw. "You make FUN of me," a stab for every sentence, "you HURT my friends, you FAKE everything, you LIE, you're RICH, you don't CARE about ANYBODY, and you treat Destiny like SHIT! After all this, I FORGIVE you, and you BITE me! YOU! ARE! A! BITCH!" At this, Gabriella stopped moving- but then again, with trauma like that, it was probably just the blunt force of the stabs that was moving her. Elly looked down at the girl and started to laugh maniacally. She laughed for several minutes, before the giggles subsided, and she collapsed in tears.

Notes-  
Small chapter, huh? Oh, well. Deal with it. 


	12. Never Wanted to Dance

Dirge: Okay, so it turns out Elly never killed/kidnaped Gabriella so... don't be confused. And I guess that Nikki changed it, but I already started writing it so... AGH! WORDS! *rams head into wall violently and repeatedly*

And another note...

GWAH! I SUCK AT FLUFF! But yet I love writing it...

Elly: I hate you.

Pepito: ...Heh heh.

-----

"Elly... Elly? ELLY!" I groaned, and suppressed the overwhelming desire to open my eyes. The voice was familiar... But it couldn't be. She was only in my head.

I was faintly aware of being on Johnny's floor- the loose nails digging into my stomach and splintery wood leaving marks on my face was just a small hint. It was the smell that really tipped me off- the slightly pungent smell of rotting bodies, sweat, stale blood and piss.

"Mmmg..." I turned my head so that my nose was pressing against the splintering floor and stayed that way for several moments, then put my arms in the way that they would be if I was going to do a push up, and pulled myself into a sitting position. I looked around and blinked slowly. I was in the basement covered in blood, and a mutilated body was in front of me. Memories of last night rushed back and tears collected in my eyes, which I quickly swiped away and leaving red marks around my eyes.

"M-Mayhem?" I choked on my words and a bit of vomit that reached its way to the back of my throat.

"Yes, dear?" I turned my head to the voice and saw a familiar cheerleading doll, with black button eyes and two long, magenta ponytails on either side of the head. Then, as I watched, she blinked.

"...You're moving..."  
"I've always been able to move." she said, walking over to me. That was a creepy sight. "Do you really think that Johnny would have a perfectly clean, non-mutilated cheerleader doll in his basement? Silly."

"Oh." I looked at the floor. "Last night..."  
"Did you really kill Gabriella?" she cut me off. "No."

"Then what..." I looked at the body. It looked... masculine.

"Well, when you were walking home, you saw a cross-dresser that looked vaguely like Gabriella." Mayhem sat down next to me and admired my work, "You wanted it to be Gabriella so bad that you started to believe it _was _Gabriella. And then, when he was pleading for mercy, you just heard it as what Gabriella would say.

"I...I..." I stammered and stared at the body. "I just killed... an innocent person... not someone who...who deserved it like Gabriella but a... innocent..." I punched the floor with enough force to break through it, bits of wood cutting into her skin and letting fresh blood drip from the wound and to the floor below, landing on a bloated corpse. Pain shot up my arm, mingleling with another type of pain I had never felt before. Mayhem put a nubby hand on my arm.

"Calm down, honey." she whispered. "It's not as bad as you think..."

"It's... It's not as bad as I think." I repeated, more to myself then to her. I repeated the words to myself as I took my hand out of the floor and ran my finger over the fresh wounds. "It's not as bad as I think.... It's not as bad as I think..." And, repeating those words, I keeled over onto the floor and closed my eyes, ignoring the tears.

"It's not as bad as I think... It's not as bad as I think..."

-----

After a while, when I had calmed down, I stood up. I walked out of the basement and cleaned myself up before changing into a black skirt and tanktop, finishing off my outfit with a touch of makeup, my chain link boots and, after a moments thought, I decided to add some of my black lipstick. Now I _really _looked like a Goth.

It took me about thirty minutes to walk to school. I guess you're wondering why I would go to the dance (yes, it was the prom) since I'm not much of a dance person. Or a people person, in general. Well, I had heard that Destiny was going. While crouched over in a fetal position, I had decided to apologize to her- much to Mayhem's discontent, I might add.

While I was walking, I started to hum 'Faggot' by Mindless Self Indulgence (humming that would be kinda hard), and the humming brought back the memories from three days ago. I clenched my teeth. Well, I guess that now that they were Destiny's 'friends'... I would have to at least _try _to get along with them.

Once I got into the School gymnasium, my stomach lurched. Streamers, lights, dancing, kissing... Stupid Robin.

"Well, look who showed up!" I turned around and saw Gabriella, Mary and Alley.

"Relax, princess," I hissed, "I'm just here for Destiny."

"Aren't we all," Alley rolled her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"She _means _that the Des-Loser never showed up!" Mary shouted, throwing her arms into the air.

"Loser?" The _bitches! _"I thought you guys were her friends?"

"Oh please," another girl, Alex, stepped forward. "We just became her friend to piss you off."

I hissed, opened my mouth and clapped them down, making the biting motion and making them run off, squealing.

"Stupid cheerleaders." I walked over to the punchbowl to try and call Destiny. I clicked on her name and waited for a moment before she picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Des?"

"Elly? What do you want?" She didn't sound mad, just surprised.

"Where are you?"

She paused. "Uhh…why should you know?" AGH! She was so _difficult!_

"Because you're not at the dance!"

There was a silence on the other end. "Y-you're at the dance? But-"

I cut her off, "I know, I know, it's weird. I'm not the type of person to go to dances."

"You went…for me?"

"I wanted to apologize. But I don't want to do it by phone. Should I come to your house?"

"No!" she shouted, startling me. "No! I mean, stay right where you are! I'll be there soon!"

_click_

I stared at the phone and slipped it into my skirt pocket. Just as I did so, someone tapped on my shoulder. I whirled around to see Pepito, his eyeteeth glinting in a smile that lit up his face. His brown eyes twinkled mischeviously (sp?) as he started to talk. "May I have this dance?" he asked Just as he did, a slow song came on. My face turned red as I silently cursed all the gods that seemed to be against me tonight.

"Fine." He led me to the center of the dance floor, and he started a waltz-thing. I didn't know how to dance, so I was a bit clumsy, but soon I caught on.

"You're a natural." he informed me.

"Uh... thanks, I guess." I looked at the floor. Something about the way he was holding me showed me that he cared about me as more than a friend- and I realized that I cared for him the same way. Not like Dick; this was different.

I found myself drifting closer before I rested my head on his broad chest- he was a head and a half taller than me, anyway. I was short.

"I like you, Elly." he said after a while.  
"I like you too." I replied, my eyes closed.

"You don't understand..." I looked up. "I love you."

I stared at him in shock. "Y-you _love_ me? You're sure it's not a... crush?"  
"Yup." He grinned, showing pointy eyeteeth. "I'm sure."

I turned a bright shade of red, and I probably was the color of the rose tucked in his black jeans pocket (he hadn't dressed up).

And then, something happened that I probably expected in the back of my mind (Mayhem was the one who suggested it in the first place). Pepito leaned forward and pressed his lips lightly against mine. He didn't try to force anything, or poke his tongue in my mouth like Dick tried to do, and tingles spread down my spine pretty quickly. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the feeling of his warms lips against mine. A couple of seconds later someone tapped my shoulder, and I turned to see a girl that was in my class- I couldn't remember her name, but I knew she was one of Destiny's friends- looking at me with a small smile on her face. I raised an eyebrow, "Can I help you?"

"Um, not me." she shook her head. "There are these guys in police uniforms asking around for you."

I jumped a bit and looked around, to see Gabriella on the other side of the gym pointing some police guys in my direction. Just as they turned around, I turned and buried my face into Pepito's Linkin Park t-shirt.

"Pepito." I said shortly, "I need you to hide me. No, wait." I pulled my phone out of my pocket and shoved my cell phone into his pocket without taking my face out of his shirt. "I'll run. Call Destiny and tell her that I can't stay. Tell her creepy guys are chasing me. And, Pepi..."

"_Si_?"

"Tell your dad to fuck off."

"You..."

"'S not hard to guess." I stepped back. I jumped up and kissed him, leaving a bit more of the black lipstick that was already smeared around his mouth. "See you."

And with that, I was out of there faster than you could say "There she is! Get her!"

Which just so happened to be the exact thing that the guys yelled as I kicked down the gym door and ran down the street.

-----

Pepito stared at the phone for a second before opening it up and browsing the contacts. Devi, Home, Destiny... And that was it. Huh.

He clicked on Destiny's name and put the phone to his ear. Several seconds later, the phone clicked open and Destiny whispered in, "Lly? Look, I'll be there in-"

"Destiny." Pepito said hotly, "It's Pepito. Where are you?"  
"Pepito?" she yelped, and a loud 'bang' resounded along with a murmured 'ow...'. "I'm kinda in the ventilation system at the police station..."

"The _police _station?" Pepito smacked his forehead and started to pace- he had moved to the school hallways. "Why the _inferno _are you there?"

"Long story. Anyway, where's Elly?" She was whispering again.

"She ran off after being chased by the police. She said to call you and tell you she couldn't stay at the dance. Probably because she was being chased by the police."

"Oh gawd..." She sighed. "Look, wait for me, I'm being held for-" There was a bang, and a gruff voice saying something, and then Destiny was yelling, "Ohmigod! Get your filthy hands off me, you stupid cop!" There was sounds of a struggle then a loud crash, like the vent was crashing down. There was more yelling, and then the sound signaling that it was hung up sounded.

Pepito stared at the phone before typing in his fathers number. He picked up right away.  
"Hello, Father." Pepito sighed. "All is going the way you planned. I don't like this, Father, I-"

The Anti-Christ said something that made Pepito sigh, and he nodded. "Okay. I'm sorry. Thank you. Goodbye."

_Click._

Pepito slipped the phone in his pocket, then gathered all the energy he had to blow a hole through the wall, screaming angrilly. There was a shriek of a nerd that had been shoved into the lockers that were in the way, and everyone in the gymnasium turned to stare at the smoking teenager.

"Um..." Pepito waved. "Hi?"

And with that, everyone went back to dancing.

-----

"_GET_ your filthy hands _off _me!" I screamed as one of the officers literally dragged me into the police station. I had run about three blocks before they caught me, but I hadn't given up there. One of the police officers had a huge chunk bitten out of his arm to prove it, and he was walking behind us with his hand pressed against the bleeding wound, said blood seeping through his fingers and dripping onto the floor. "I will scream rape! I promise you I will!"

I'm sure I looked like a mess. My makeup was smeared, mascara running down my cheeks and smearing around my eyes, my lipstick rubbing off and stuck around my bottom lip, mixing with blood from where I had bitten it. One tanktop strap was coming off a shoulder, and it was pulled up to show my belly button, since the dragging had pulled up my shirt and my skirt, showing my underwear. One show had- somehow- gone missing, and the muddy sock was halfway off. I was also soaking wet, due to the fact that I had been dragged through several muddy puddles, been attacked by several preteens with water guns and splashed by a truck. My hair was sticking to my face and up in some places- I didn't even try to think about how ugly I looked.

After several threats involving metal sporks and knitting needles, I just stuck to screaming. Several hallways later, they dragged my past Destiny, who was staring at me in shock. They picked me up and handcuffed me to a chair, going as far to tying my legs together, which cost them several painful kicks into the genital area.  
"You guys think that you can just- just... AGH!" I snapped my teeth at one when they tried to gag me, and after that they left me alone, two officers standing at the end of each hall just in case. After this, I went silent, bowed my head and looked at my legs, wishing I could reach down and pull down my skirt. I sure as _hell_ wasn't asking the police officers, or Dick.

Wait.

_Dick?_

I put my head up and glared at him. He was in fullfledged Robin costume, mask, tights and all.

"You!" I hissed. "This is all your fault! I knew I should have sicced Johnny on you in the first place! You lying bastard!"  
Robin sighed, and Destiny looked between the two on us, looking a but confused.

"You two know each other...?" she asked.

"Just another one of my 'friends' from Gotham." I spat at him, and lucky for me it actually hit him. He wiped it off and glared at me.

"Look, Elly, I'm sorry- but your family is a danger to the community."

"Community my ass!" I yelled, making him and the cops jump a bit. "What type of 'community' leaves it's inhabitants lying there, bleeding on the ground when someone kills them? What type of 'community' laughs at everyone who's different? What type of _community_ has men who decides to cheat on his wife for younger, prettier women, huh? _Your _town might be a 'community' , but this town sure as hell_ isn't!_"

I was breathing hard by now, and the silence that followed was thick enough to be cut by a butter knife. Suddenly, there was the sound of slow clapping, and my head snapped to the right to see a tall man wearing a fancy t-shirt, dress pants and a badge on the right side of his shirt. "Very good point, Ellesandra."

"God, it feels like some Cop movie!" I groaned.

_It does, doesn't it?_ Mayhem agreed.

"Shut up, I didn't ask your opinion." I growled at her, ignoring the strange looks I got for 'talking to myself'.

"Well, Ellesandra-"

"It's Elly." I interrupted. "Usually I'd ask you to call me Lly, but I don't like you, so I won't."

"Well, _Elly_," I nodded. "We're taking you into questioning about your parents, and about a man that went missing yesterday. Do you know what happened to him?"  
I visibly winced.

"Ah..." The man stroked his sand-colored beard. "It seems you have. Well, come along, and if you bite or try to escape, I _will_ shoot you."

I let him lead me away peacefully, glaring at Robin one last time before they shut the door to the room that they would question me in. A woman wearing just enough clothes to be considered a cop was sitting in a chair with her legs crossed.

_Wow, this really _is _like a movie, isn't it?_ Mayhem said, and I got the feeling she was enjoying every minute of my suffering.

I sat down and the woman glared at me. "I know what you did, Elly. I can smell your guilt."

Wow, psycho much?

_Well, your completaly screwed! _Mayhem informed me gleefully.

_Yes, and I totally asked your opinion!_ I thought back angrily before looking back at the female hooker/cop. Well, this would be fun.

-----

Notes:

+_Inferno_ is Spanish for the word 'hell'. Mmyep. Ah, the things we learn in Spanish class. :p

+Mayhem is starting to get on my nerves... -_-' and I created her. ANYWAY! Go to the link on my profile page if you want to see what Mayhem looks like! It's the link under something titled Destiny- you might have to scroll down a bit. I'll tell you when we have an Elly picture- I just haven't gotten around to drawing it yet. ^-^'

-First, a HUGE thank you to InvaderZaTR, because if she wasn't writing this with me, I wouldn't have any idea what the hell was going on and I wouldn't have gotten past chapter two... Or even started, really... Also, from Nikki and I, to our loyal reviewers! You guys make us so happy, and the best part is you guys don't even notice the brain monkeys that leap out of this screen and embed themselves in your head while you are reading this! Woops... Forget I said that. ;) Anyway, we'd like to thank you guys again! You guys keep the world turning! Um, kind of...

+ HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIKKI! Well, belated, but... still.

-Gwaaag... I'm sorry, Snb... That's you who interupted the kiss... I told you that you'd have a small part but this was a bit too small... I feel so baaaad... Yes, that's her. I told her she could have a part and if she minded that it was small, and she said no I don't mind, so I finally got around to putting her in. Don't worry honey, you'll appear later. ; ) But... I accidentally deleted that PM so I lost the description and stuff, so... ah... I need it again. I'm sorry. :(

---

Dirge: Yaaaay! Sorry the chapter was so late, but I had a HUGE case of writers block and spent the past long time drawing meme's to cure it and writing drabbles... One of which was a lime. *shudder* This was horrifically long, but it was amazing. Yessssss!

Pepito: *whispering* Are you going to write any more fluffy stuff? It was kinda fun...  
Elly: Hey! Do you have something to say to me? Because I think you can say something to my face!

Pepito: ...  
Elly: And... what are you holding behind your back? Is that one of my...

Dirge: Oh, my, Pepito! You naughty beast!  
Elly: *blushing* GIVE THAT BACK!

Pepito: *runs away*

(sorry guys, wasn't planning on that... just thought it needed more funny-ness or something. I miss the funny... I've only written depressing things for a while now. *sigh*)


	13. Evening Wear

Dirge: Sorry for the long wait- Stephen got a virus that deleted all my files, thus ending the chapter of Destiny I had just finished... But I, personally, think this one is better because the last one sucked anyway. Yeah.

My brother was reading through this and told me I didn't put a disclaimer. So, here's one that will work for the whole thing because I don't want to keep taking up space with meaningless banter.

**ALL THE CHARACTERS YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE BELONG TO ME OR INVADERZATR.**

The end.

* * *

"What do you mean, what I did?" I asked, my eyes narrowed. I didn't trust easily, and if there was a non-trust worthy contest, this prostitute/cop took the cake. How could this woman know what I did and didn't do?

"You killed Bailey Woodwroth." she stated, matter-of-factly.

"No. I didn't."

_Lying just gets you in more trouble..._

_I don't remember asking your opinion._

"Yes, you did." The cop pulled out a picture from a small pocket in her tiny skirt and pushed it under my nose. It was of the mutilated body in my basement- the fresh one. I paled. "Several cops went into your house after you left for the dance. This is one of the millions of bodies we found in your house. So start talking, missie."

I leaned back and crossed my arms, glaring at her. "Don't call me that."  
"Okay, then." The cop leaned forward and sent on a barrage of questions. I ignored most of them, until one grasped my attention.

"Are you crazy, Elly C.?"

"Now that's a hard question to answer." I stated, leaning forward and putting my head in my hands, grinning lightly. "I wouldn't say I'm 'crazy'. I actually completely mistook this man, Bailey-" I tapped on the picture with chipping nails, "for someone who deserved to be dead. You have to realize that, if he wasn't dressed like her, than I'd never have hurt him. I may hurt flies, but I don't hurt non-deserving people."

This obviously wasn't the answer she was expecting. "But are you _insane_, Ms. C.?"

"The strange thing about insanity," I said, grinning wider, "Is that it just creeps up on you. And the only thing you can do," I sat back and tilted my head to the ceiling, closing my eyes. "Is embrace it."

There was a moment of silence.

"So where are your parents?" she asked. "Did you kill them, too?"

"No, they left town." I sat up and narrowed my eyes. "I would never hurt them."

"So where are they?"

I paused. "...I... don't know."

This was the complete truth, but the woman obviously didn't believe me. She stood up and walked behind me. "Stand up."

I obeyed, and she immediately wrenched my hands behind my back and clenched a pair of hand cuffs to them. "Ellesandra C., you are arrested on five hundred thirty three counts of first degree murder, manslaughter, theft, and arson. You have the right to remain silent. Everything you say can and will be misunderstood, twisted around and used against you."

I was silent, shocked. This couldn't be happening. I couldn't be arrested. This was just impossible.

_Fuck._ Mayhem cursed.

-----

"Destiny Freeman." Destiny looked up at the female cop- who was dressed very naughtily- standing outside her cell door. She unlocked the bars and pulled it open. "You're free to go. A friend is outside to get you."

Destiny didn't talk, but a thousand thoughts and questions were whirling through her head. Where was Elly? Who was outside? Why the hell was a stripper working at as a cop?  
Question number two was answered outside, where she saw one of her best friends from middle school sitting in the car.

"Snb!" she yelled, running toward her girl friend (notice the SPACE). "What're you doing here?"

"I heard you were here and I wanted to come say hi. Your parents wanted me to get you. Thank God for licenses, huh?"  
"Amen to that." Destiny got in the front seat, and Snb turned to her, suddenly serious.

"So as we drive home, why don't you tell me _everything_ that has happened, hm?"

Destiny sighed. "Okay. Here we go..."

-----

_Click_

_I told you she would be caught but you didn't believe me oh no you were selfish nobody believes poor Pepito you never listen to me why don't you listen to me she's not Johnny she's only a child no I don't care if Johnny first killed when he was six she's different I tell you you need to stop this no no please I'm begging you I love her you have to understand no please please she's not Johnny don't go on she can't live like this you know she's going to_

_Click_

_-----_

The next morning, far away in Kentucky, Devi and Johnny were sitting on a couch in a hotel watching an infomercial on a blender when it was interrupted by a 'Special Broadcast'.

"We interrupt this broadcast for a special news report." the man stated. "The long searched for famous Killer of Vasquezville has been caught."

Devi and Johnny shared a look of surprise.

"The strangest thing about this case has always been that nobody has been able to aprehend this killer, even if they kill right before your eyes. But this has been replaced by the fact that the killer is a sixteen year old goth girl attending Jhonen V. High."

The camera snapped to a disgruntled looking girl in a black tank top, skirt and boots with random chains and buckles, her choppy black hair pulled into a high ponytail and uneven bangs hanging in her face. She was being led by several cops, her arms behind her back, through a throng of people. If it wasn't for the shocking green of her eyes, her parents never would have guessed that it was Elly.

"Elly C., why did you kill all those people?"

"Elly C., if you are only sixteen and the killings have been going on for twenty plus years, how did you do it? Are you older than you say you are, or are you an accomplice?"

"Elly C., do you even care that you left millions of families mourning?"

"SHUT UP!" Lly screamed, silencing all of them. "I didn't kill any of those people! I'm only sixteen, how could I? You guys are all zits on the ass of humanity! All of you!" She was still cussing out everyone who was watching as they loaded her into the car.

"Searches are still on for her parents." One police man said, once the camera turned to him. "For all we know, they could be one of the millions of bodies in the basement."

"LEAVE MY PARENTS OUT OF THIS!" Elly screeched from the car. "I didn't do anything to them! I would never! Just leave them alo-"

Devi turned off the TV and turned to Nny, who was sitting stock still. "So... What now?"

-----

That night, Pepito, Todd and Destiny were sitting together on Pepito's couch watching a rerun of the broadcast. Elly was in the middle of cursing everybody's mother when Todd paused it and put his head in his hands. Pepito growled, and the TV slowly started to melt into a puddle of goop under the heat of his stare.

"Pepito, calm down!" Destiny said, nudging him. "Elly's going to be fine. Trust me."  
"I... I know, I just..." Pepito kept talking, but he was going in and out of Spanish so his two friends couldn't understand him. Suddenly, he stood up. "I'm going out." he said, grabbing his coat and leaving the house. Destiny and Todd looked at each other.

"I-I have a bad feeling about this..." Todd looked at the couch now.

"Me too." Destiny agreed. "I hope he doesn't do anything stupid..."

-----

"Pepito!? What are you doing here?" Elly looked out of the barred window of her cell.

His finger lit up, a bit of fire dancing on the tip, and smirked. "I'm breaking you outta here."

* * *

Notes:  
+We're nearing the end of the second part of the trilogy! I'd say about... two more chapters after this? So stay tuned~!

+Snb, since you never got back to me you'll just be... Snb. Kay?

+On my dA account, I got some Character Sheets up. So far, only Elly and Destiny are there although Gabriella'll be there soon. Go check 'em out and leave a comment if you have an account yourself!

+This is a shoutout to Bria-the-Fox, who is, according to me, the biggest Destiny/Fate fan we have so far. Of course, to all you other readers too. Thank you so much! Remember, on my story you can leave a review whether or not you have an account on FF, so please comment and tell me what you think! Thank you for reading another chapter of Destiny, and now you should go right over to Fate!  
Thankies!

~Dirge


	14. House of Wolves

Dirge: Yesssss! I finally stayed on an update schedule! *fist pump* And two days early, too! I'm so PROUD of myself~! Anyway, about the last comment about Bria... I didn't mean to offend anyone, so please stop fighting over who's the biggest Fate/Destiny fan! ^^' I actually didn't know we had to many fans, so I didn't know- uh, title of fan goes to all of you! Please don't take any offense.

And I'm sticking with my disclaimer policy. Deal with it. -_-

**IMPORTANT-**

**You'll see something like this (-----) and that'll mean that everything like **_**this**_ **is lyrics of a song. Part of this is a songfic. Not before, and after you see it a second time it'll be done with.**

Oh, and uh... violence.

-----

"You're going to break me out."

It wasn't that much of a question, it was more of a statement. It was the way she said it that made it that, but I could hear the question lurking within it. I grinned at her and put my flaming finger to the bars.

"You heard me, _chica_."

"I don't think that will-"

"No, WE'RE the ones breaking you out!" Elly turned around, and I sighed. Destiny and Todd leapt out of the ventilation system and stormed over.

"Goddammit!" I cursed, glaring at Destiny. She stuck out her tongue. "Now I have to get _all_ of you out of here! _Tu perra!_"

"Don't call me that!" Destiny hissed, then paused. "What's that again?"

"I called you a female dog."

"Well then!" Destiny huffed. Todd put a hand on her arm before she could start ranting, and she shut up.

Two minutes and three bars later, I reached in to grab Elly. I grabbed her by the hips and lifter her up, and the same for Destiny and Todd.

"What did you eat before you came here, bricks?" I teased as I pulled Destiny out.

"Are you calling me-"

"Guys, shut up!" Elly growled. I sighed and snapped my fingers. A large red demon appeared, much to the chagrin of a certain black haired boy who hid behind Destiny.

"Fred," I said, pointing to the couple, "Pick up those two and follow me." He did so. Elly was about to step away when I swung her into a bridal style hold and ran as fast as I could (being the son of the Devil can make you run pretty fast) to the fence. I stared up at it- it was an electric fence- before changing the position I was holding her so that she was basically sitting on my right arm, my hand grasping her right thigh, and starting to climb up. I ignored the shock of pain that jolted up my arm and burned through my flesh, and Elly held onto my shirt, twisting the fabric into balls in her fists. Once I reached the top, she held on tighter and buried her face in my neck. Then I jumped.

"..."

"Elly, we're out." I said as I smirked at the way she basically cowered against me.

"Ah..." She pulled her face away and looked at me hardly. "Right. I knew that."

As she struggled out of my arms, I grinned to myself. Who knew that the daughter of the craziest guy in the world would be scared of heights?

Once she was free, she stood in front of me and put her hands on her hips, staring into my eyes. "Why'd you get me out?" she asked, cocking her head a bit.

"Because I love you."

Elly blinked, and seemed to force a smile. "...Thank you. I... I think... I think I l-l-l..."

"Love?" I smirked.

"Uh, right. I...love you... too."

Of course, it wasn't that amazing or startling that she was having trouble with the words. From my dad's file, I knew that no one had ever told her that they loved her. Even after undergoing a bit of a, ah, _flirtation_ with Dick Grayson, she hadn't felt that strong of feelings for him. Don't ask me how I know this. And no, I'm _not_ a stalker.

There was a cough from where Fred, Destiny and Todd were waiting, and we both turned to them.

"Sorry to interupt the love fest," Destiny growled, "But we have trouble."She pointed toward the jail, and we turned to see two people running toward the fence, and a siren started.

"Run!" Elly hissed, taking off toward the woods. Fred grabbed Todd and Destiny and tucked them under each arm(ignoring their protests). I followed Elly, grinning a bit toward her hips, then quickly looked away. Now was _not_ the time.

I sped up and caught her again, carrying her bridal style again and did as Fred was doing- ignored angry remarks. I think I heard Elly telling me to go to Heaven. I sighed. I could run a lot faster this way, and it was harder to be 'distracted'.

A couple minutes (or hours, I couldn't tell) later, we had finally outrun them- not that they were close to us anyway- and I stopped and put her down. Elly punched me in the arm, and I laughed.

"You jerk! I could have run by myself!" she told me, eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, but you wouldn't have been fast enough." I stated, laughing kicked me in the nether regions, and I winced. Destiny clapped, and Todd did his signature Squee noise.

"You can go now, Fred." I said, bending over to ease the pain. There was a poof, and Fred was gone back to Hell.

"So, what now?" Todd asked quietly.

"Let's live in the woods living off nuts and berries and start our own little Indian tribe!" Destiny suggested, and all eyes turned to her.

"You've got to be kidding me." Elly raised an eyebrow.

"Jeez Elly, I was just kidding." she rolled her eyes. "Touchy much?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, am I in a bad mood?" Elly faked surprise. "I really have no need to be, even though I've spent forever in jail sleeping on newspaper, killed an innocent gay guy, am being framed for over 500 murders and am now hated throughout the U.S! You're right, I shouldn't be grumpy at all!"

"Break it up!" I stepped in-between the two, who were now glaring at each other. "We can't fight now. We might all be on the run from the law now- except Todd, no one can pin anything on him- so we have to get along!"

"Hypocrite." Destiny and Elly said at once, looking at me with half closed eyes. Todd yawned.

"...We should probably get to sleep." Elly looked at her boots, kicking a rock into a tree. "I guess we can figure out what to do in the morning."

"Great!" I grinned. "Care to sleep with me?"

Elly stared at me for a moment before swinging a mean uppercut and almost breaking my jaw.

"I swear to God, Pepito, if I didn't love you-"

"You'd kick my ass bloody, I know, I know." I grinned and went over to a tree. "I guess guys can sleep over here."

"Destiny?" I heard Todd whisper as Elly stormed away. "Are they boyfriend and girlfriend or what?"

I didn't hear the answer, but the question made me smile. My very first somewhat-girlfriend. Sweet.

-----

"Hey, Elly?"

I looked up to see Destiny come over to me and sit by me. I was by a stream, and the moonlight and stars reflecting off of it was really pretty.

"Mm?"

"Are you and Pepito a couple or what?"

I sighed and decided to ignore the question.

"The stars are so pretty tonight..." I sighed, leaning back on the soft grass. "You can see a lot more of them than you can in the city, huh?"

"Yeah..." Destiny leaned back as well. "At my old town, we lived in the country. I used to sneak out of my bedroom as a little kid and just sit out front, staring at the stars, before my dad came out to take me back inside."

"..." I sighed and closed my eyes. "Funny how some parents care and some parents don't."

"..." I could hear the question in her silence.

"My mom dropped my off on Johnny's doorstep when I was two." I said. "I don't really remember life before that, but I remember I loved her... more than life itself... Childlike innocence, I guess you could call it. She told me that she would come back, to just, you know, stay with the man who answered until she came back. She said he was my dad, and I was to tell him that and to tell him who my mom was. I waited... for two years after that... and she never came back. Once I saw her at the 24/7, and when I called her name, she ran off. Maybe it was because I was with Johnny. Maybe it's because I was me. I know I held bad memories in me from her and his failed relationship. A child knows when their mother is unhappy. I guess it was after that I just gave up on ever seeing her again. Gradually, I forced myself to forget about her... until we moved to Gotham. I saw her at a bookstore. Didn't think anything of it. Didn't know it was her. Then... things happened. I was kidnapped by a bunch of crazy people, Johnny went to a mental institute, and Devi broke 'im out. They saved me, and killed everybody there and left Dick for dead. We moved around for... a long time... after that. Then we came here and I met you."

"You hated me..." Destiny mused.

"I didn't." I smirked."I just acted like it. You amused me. You were different. I could sense that."

"Huh."

We were silent for several minutes.

"Ever wonder what your life would be like if your parents hadn't divorced?" I asked her suddenly.

"Sometimes. I don't think it'd be that fun though. They fight a lot." She laughed. "What about you?"

"My parents were never married, mind you..."

"I mean, if Devi hadn't, you know, left you on Johnny's doorstep."

I paused. That took some thinking. What if Devi _hadn't_ left me on Johnny's doorstep? What if she put me in an orphanage, or maybe just kept me? What then?

"Maybe we wouldn't be in this whole mess." I paused.

_"So say goodbye to the last parade_

_And walk away from the choice you made_

_And say goodnight to the heart you break_

_And all the cyanide you drank._

_To the last parade _

_Well the parties fade_

_And the choice you made_

_To the end..."_

"I didn't know you could sing." Destiny said.

"Neither did I." We both laughed.

"Well," Destiny stood up after a minute of silence. "I'm tired. We should get back to the 'camp', huh?"

"You mean the place inside a circle of sticks that Pepito made?"

"That's the one."

We walked back to the 'camp' in silence. When we got there, we curled up on opposite ends of the circle, and soon I was the only one awake. Well, I thought so at least.

_My dear, what are you going to do now?_

"Shut up, I don't want to talk to you."

_You know you want to kill them, right?  
_

"What are you talking about?" I asked, sitting up. "I don't-"

_Yes you do. _The voice hissed._You stupid girl. You don't listen. You NEVER listen! You were safe in that hellhole of a jail, where you wouldn't kill anybody, and now you're out and a threat to society! You're such a selfish bitch! Sure, build youself a love nest for the demon boy and let the skin of your friends line it, and be happy. Don't you know what you've done?!_

"...You're not Mayhem..."

_Oh, I'm mayhem indeed- just not the doll Mayhem. She's been released- she's served her time. Now, you're stuck with dear old me!_

"Fuck you!" I hissed, grasping my head. "Leave me alone!"

_If you insist..._ The new voice faded away, and I sat like that for a long, long time before I slipped into sleep.

-----

_YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO KILL THEM yessss yes you do GIVE IN AND what are you talking about FEED THE WALL kill them all kill them kill them KILL THEM __**let their blood wash the streets and cleanse your body**_ _don't you want to be HAPPY YESSSSSS YOU DO GIVE IN DEAR CHILD AND_

_-----_

"NO!" I sat up, yelling that one word. To my right, Todd moved a bit but otherwise didn't wake up. Pepito was sleeping like a log, snoring loudly. I didn't see Destiny.

I curled into a ball, shivering.

A while later, I stood up. I couldn't stick around with these guys. I'd hurt them. I didn't want to hurt anybody, not ever again.

"Goodbye..." I whispered, kissing Pepito on the cheek and stealing his hoodie. I patted Todd on the head, and walked out into the forest- I didn't know where I was going, but I guessed East, due to where the sun was.

I heard a bit of a rustle behind me in the trees, but thought nothing of it. Just an animal.

-----

Destiny peeked out from between the bushes. Due to what Elly had said last night, she knew where she was going. Away.

Yes, Elly had been talking to herself- although one side of the conversation sounded just like a male voice with a slight Mexican twinge- and it was worrisome, knowing that a voice in her head was now able to speak through her.

Destiny slipped off in direction of camp to wake the others.

**(-----)**

After about an hour, I found myself in the city again. I was too tired from walking to wonder why the hell there was a forest in the middle of the city.

I walked for a while more with the hood of my new hoodie up, covering my face. You can never be too careful.

As I was walking past an alleyway, I heard a non-familiar voice and a familiar voice.

"W-why do you do this to people?"

"Why?" Gabriella. Of course. "Because I put you down to make myself feel good, and because I'm too lazy to even try to make myself a worthwhile person!

I peeked in, and saw Gabriella with some of her possie and a couple jocks surrounding a small, red headed boy with glasses, freckles, acne and headgear. Poor kid.

"Look kid, I'm in a terrible mood because one of my boyfriends just broke up with me, and we hadn't even had sex yet!" she was saying. "And since that Elly-loser isn't here, I'll just take it out on you."

There was a _thock_ sound and a cry of pain, followed by laughter, and it didn't take a genious to figure out that she had just hit him.

Hard.

From what I could see of the poor boy, blood was spurting out of his nose and he was starting to bawl.

"Crybaby!" one of the boys snickered and punched him in the gut, and another boy kicked him in the shin. I heard a _snap_.

I looked around to see if anybody else could help, but no one was looking. I didn't want to cause any trouble, but maybe if I kept my hood up...

I closed the draw strings to make sure my identity was secure.

"Hey!" I shouted, deepening my voice. Gabriella and her 'friends' turned around. "Don't hurt the kid, he did nothing to you!

"Shut up, _loser_." Gabriella hissed. "This has nothing to do with you, so go back to wherever you came from and die or something."

I sighed inwardly. She was in a worse mood than usual. If only it had been her...

_**I know a thing about contrition  
Because I've got enough to spare.**_

I shook my head. "I'm not going until you get away from him!"

"Fine." She crossed her arms. "We'll let him go, but take you."

_**And I'll be granting your permission  
because you haven't got a prayer.**_

My eyes widened, and before I could do anything she had me pressed against a wall, her hand on my throat. Since when was she so violent?

"I'm in a bad mood, horse face." She said, taking back her fist. "I need to vent in other ways than in bed."

_**  
And I said 'Hey Allelujah!  
everybody come on sing the praise**_

Her fist connected with my face, and I felt the cartilage snap. I hissed and she punched me in the gut. I didn't want to hurt anybody, but she was

_Go on free the world she's a bitch yesssss, do it do it DO IT!_

_**and let the spirit come on through you,  
we got innocence for days!**_

I brought my foot up to my hand and reached in my boot, grasping the handle of the knife Johnny had always made me keep there.

"Let's see your face, asshole." Gabriella reached up to my hood and ripped it off. Her eyes widened. _"Elly?"_

_**And I think I'm gonna burn in Hell  
Everybody burn the house right down!**_

I hissed and plunged the blade into her arm. She fell back, screaming, and several of the boys ran up to me and the girls all ran to Gabriella. My mind went into overdrive, and something took over. I wasn't in control of my body anymore- all I could do was make a face and watch what I was doing.

_**  
SAY what I want to say!!!  
tell me I'm an angel **_

_**take this to my grave!!!**_

I swung the blade hard, catching a boy in the neck before scratching toward anothers face and ripping to the bone with inhuman force. I was aware of myself cutting madly, laughing, but I couldn't stop. I wanted to, but I couldn't. No wait, I didn't want to. This was fun. This was really fun.

_**tell me I'm a bad man **_

_What is WRONG with me_?

_**kick me like a stray!**_

After a minute, all the boys were dead except for one, who was lying on the ground gasping for breath. I smirked and held the blade up high, spitting in his face before plunging it hard into his gut.

I was aware of some shouts for help, and far off police sirens. I glanced over and saw a crowd watching, one woman running to help the girls. I grabbed an old bicycle spoke lying near my feet and heaved it at her, impaling her through the temple and affectively killing her. I glanced down at the girls, who were crying now, and smirked.

_**you're playing ring around the ambulance**_

_**Like you never gave a care.**_

"You've made my life miserable." My voice was different now, colder, with a sharp edge to it. I didn't sound at all like myself anymore. "I've dreamed about this, yessss, I have." I flipped the blade so that I was holding the sharp part in my fist, and let my arms fall so it went through a girls eye, watching as she screamed and the blood spurted onto Gabriella and the other. The rest was a blur, but soon they were all dead except for Gabriella. She was holding her arm, sobbing and staring up at me with terror in her eyes.

_**You got the choir boys around you  
It's a compliment I swear.**_

"LOOK AT ME!" I screamed at her. "YOU MADE ME THIS! I WOULN'T HAVE HURT ANYBODY IF YOU HADN'T STRUGGLED TO MAKE MY LIFE MISERABLE! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" I put the blade to her jugular, smiling sweetly. "You think you're so great. You think I'm a freak. You may be rich, and popular, and good at cheering, but you know what I'm glad that I don't have that you have?"

_**And I said 'Ashes to ashes we all fall down  
I wanna hear you sing the praise'**_

Gabriella sobbed.

_**I said 'Ass-s-s-hes to ashes we all fall down  
We got innocence for days!!!'**_

"The need to make everybody feel terrible, just to make myself look better." My smile turned into an evil grin, and I slowly pushed down. She struggled a bit, gasping, but soon her struggled faded, and she went limp. Her eyes dimmed a bit, and I smirked.

"Goodbye."

_**And I think I'm gonna burn in Hell  
Everybody burn the house right down!**_

"_Elly!_" someone yelled, and I turned toward the crowd. A familiar black haired girl pushed her way through the crowd, followed by a tall, muscular boy and a short thin boy with a baby face. She stopped and took in a sharp breath when she saw the carnage around me.

"Destiny?" My eyes widened as my voice became normal again. Then my mind went strange again and I smiled madly, a very Johnny-like smile. I waved, "Hello, friends! Come to join the party?" I was talking strange again.

_**You better run like the devil cuz they're never gonna leave you alone!  
You better hop in the alley cuz they never gonna find you a home!**_

At that moment, a large searchlight shone on my, and several policemen pushed the crowd back and pointed their guns at me.

"Don't move!" the whore-y police woman shouted. "You are surrounded!"

_**And as the blood runs down the walls...  
You see me creepin' up these halls**_

"Aw, look!" I laughed. "I'm popular! I've never been popular..."

_**I've been a bad mother fucker  
Tell you sister or your mother **_

At those words, I threw my knife at the woman, impaling it into her fake chest. She gasped and fell backward. The policemen started shooting, and I dodged most of them. I felt something go through my hand, and I yelled. It wasn't the pain, oh no. I was too high on adrenaline to feel pain. It was the shock that something had hit me, and that I couldn't use my left hand anymore after this.

_**GO! GO! GO!!!**_

I hissed loudly and grabbed the spoke from through the woman's head, tossing it with perfect aim to hit the man who had crippled my hand in the center of the forehead. The men were out of bullets and started to reload, and I took this moment to grab an old rusty trashcan lid and heave in like a frisbee to dislocate two heads.

_**And I said**_

There was only one left in the front now, and he glared at me with terror (I'd never seen that look). He aimed his gun, and I heard him whisper "Only two bullets left..."

_**SAY what I want to say!!!  
tell me I'm an angel  
take this to my grave!!!**_

He pulled the trigger and I ducked, but it hit me. The adrenaline was lower now, and I screamed and clutched a hand to my right eye, blood spurting out from around my fingers.

_**tell me I'm a bad man  
kick me like a stray!  
tell me I'm an angel  
TAKE THIS TO MY GRAVE!!!  
**_

Everything was moving in slow motion. I tuned out all the screaming from Todd's direction, and the shouts from the crowd.

_**Yeah, tell me I'm a bad, bad, bad, bad man**_

"Why?" I asked, more to myself.

_**Tell me I'm a bad, bad, bad, bad man**_

He pulled the trigger again, and all I could hear was the shot.

_**SO GET OUT!!!**_

I stood upright for a second, swaying, blinking away the blood flowing from the wound in my head into my good eye. Then I slowly fell, and I found myself looking at the sky again.

_**  
SO GET OUT!!!  
**_

"The stars are so pretty..." I whispered, and everything slowly went black.

_**I S-I-N!!! I S-I-N!!!**_

**(----)**

-----  
Notes-

I don't really know why, but I really wanted it to be in Pepito's view in the first part.

Is Elly dead? Uhm... yeah. She is. Please don't send angry letters, just... ah, why not. Bring on the letters. *braces self for ultimate tomato flinging*

I'm planning on one more chapter- maybe two, but if so, the last chapter will have two parts, so it'll still be one chapter.

Oh, and I have nothing against gays. I just needed to explain why Gabby was still alive, okay? My brother's gay. NOTHING AGAINST GAY/LESBIAN PEOPLE! STOP FLAMING ME, ANONYMOUS PEOPLE!

The song is House of Wolves, by My Chemical Romance.


	15. Cemetary Drive

Dirge: Welcome... to the last chapter of Destiny. *dun dun dunnnnn*

I'm actually very surprised I made it this far! ^^ I mean, look at this! We've actually gotten the second part of a trilogy going, and it's over! For some reason, this is the only story I can stick to so far...*coughcrimesandpunishmentscough*.

Once again, read Fate! Actually, you kinda NEED to, now that there's information there that you need to read this chapter. So go read that before you read this.

And thank you all for not throwing tomatoes at me~!

Oh, and my anonymous reviewer 'lusinda' asked me some questions, so I think I'll answer all of them in this here chapter~! And also, to 'LoVeR', DROP THE DaER! THAT IS SICK! And I'm sorry I had to delete your comment, but that was a pretty disturbing scene you wrote for me there...

As for people who noted me about how much Elly's gotten out of character, I'd like to clear up on that. This is called _character development_, and I am trying to do it as good and slowly as I can.

**SONG IN THE FIRST PART IS WRITTEN BY INVADERZATR CREDIT GOES TO HER**

Warnings-

Slight violence

Horribly written fluff

Possible OOCness (hopefully not)

Mentioned- not described- Lime (Not Lemon, LIME- that's kissing)

* * *

_**She wakes up feeling sorry for the rest of the world**_

_**Doesn't bother to change or comb her hair.**_

_**It's all just a blur**_

_**On her way to school she passes girls of many types**_

_**But in her own mind their all the same people she dislikes**_

_**She doesn't feel sorrow**_

_**She doesn't feel pain**_

_**She'll always get back on her feet again**_

_**Cuz she's a blossom full of different colours**_

_**And she doesn't give a crap for the others**_

_**Cuz in her own mind she will discover**_

_**What this world is ready for**_

_**She could be so much more**_

_**She could be a butterfly in a swarm of bees**_

_**But now she's bringing people to their knees**_

_**She could take a punch**_

_**She could take on the others**_

_**And oh, how's she's lost**_

_**In a million colours**_

_**She doesn't feel sorrow**_

_**She doesn't feel pain**_

_**She'll always get back on her feet again**_

_**Cuz she's a blossom full of different colours**_

_**And she doesn't give a crap for the others**_

_**Cuz in her own mind she will discover**_

_**What this world is ready for**_

_**She could be so much more**_

_**Elly says when the world crashes down**_

_**She won't even be around**_

_**Ely says life's a mystery**_

_**Surprises only help her see**_

_**Elly C., **_

_**You could be so much more**_

_**Cuz she's a blossom full of different colours**_

_**And she doesn't give a crap for the others**_

_**Cuz in her own mind she will discover**_

_**What this world is ready for**_

_**"What is this world ready for?"**_

_**She could be so much more**_

_**Will the end ever come?**_

_**Will we find her core?**_

_**Oh, Elly C.**_

_**You could be so much more**_

-Destiny Freeman, 2010

* * *

Pepito walked home slowly, his eyes going in and out of focus. This couldn't be. Elly had died. She wasn't supposed to die. Why.... Why had it turned out like this? Couldn't he have stopped it?

In the back of his mind, something sneered and told him, _You could have saved her by not breaking her out. She'd still be miserable, but she'd be alive._

Pepito didn't want to think about that.

He opened the door, sighing, and stopped cold.

His father was standing in the hallway, disguise off, glaring at him.

"Um... Hey, Dad..." Pepito laughed nervously and shut the door behind him hesitantly, leaning back on it. "What's up?"

"What up?" his father stepped forward, eyes narrowed dangerously. _"What UP?_ I'll tell you 'what's up', Son. You just broke the Strings of Destiny. Not once, not twice, but _four times_. They're tangled up, and the ends are now lost. The Fates are not pleased." He was standing above him now, glaring down with red eyes. "_Not. Pleased. At all._"

"I-I'm sorry, Father..." Pepito dropped to his knees. "I didn't mean to, I just... I just loved her so much, and-"

"I blame myself for that." Senor Diablo sighed. "I should have just made you go to another school, or move Destiny to a different school and have Elly follow her..."

"Destiny?" Pepito's eyes widened. "What does she have to do with this?"

"But you should know self control, Son." He leaned forward and grasped Pepito by the shoulders, claws digging into the skin and drawing blood. "You should know _better_."

"Wagh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm-"

There was a _poof_, and Pepito found himself in the darkest corner of Hell, the place where no demon or soul dared to approach- the place that you read about in books, with the streams of fire. This was the place Pepito had shown Todd when he first came over to their house.

His father hoisted Pepito into the air, growing so that he was at least seventy feet tall. Pepito stayed the same.

"Please! I'm sorry!" Pepito struggled. "I'll... I'll go help them untangle Them! I'm sorry!"

"Apology not excepted." the Devil hissed, and a searing pain ripped through the teenagers body.

There is no way for me to describe the exact pain that Pepito went through that day, because it is, literally, unimaginable. So I will explain it to you in the best way that I can, but you must note that this is probably only 1% of what he felt.

He felt like his skin was being ripped off, little by little, layer by layer. His bones felt like they were melting, lava fire running through his veins and making sweat break out on the tan forehead. There was an intense pain in said forehead, spreading to cover his whole face and spreading down the spine. It was like every bone was shattering, digging into his brain, which was slowly melting into hot coals. Every vertebrae on his spine was growing, rattling his teeth and slicing through skin. His eyes were melting in his sockets, and everything was flashing different colors- red, blue, green, pink, and white.

And then, just as suddenly as it began, it was over.

"I had such faith that you would be the apocalypse." His father sighed as Pepito vision slowly faded. "Such faith indeed..."

* * *

Johnny woke up gasping for breath. Devi peered over the side of the bed, "What's wrong?"

"I... I had a dream..." He looked up, eyes wide, but something was missing. They were duller, and shock was imminent in them. "Of two different things. I-I know who I am."

Devi's eyes widened. "You do? Well, who the hell are you?"

Johnny looked down, shaking a bit. "Jonathan Carsonelgro."

"Anything else?"

"...No..."

Devi sighed. "What's the other thing?"

He looked up at her, shaking harder. "Elly's dead."

* * *

She slowly opened her eyes. There was... nothing. Above her was pure blackness, deeper than any black she had ever seen. It wasn't like when you closed your eyes- you could still see light filtering through your eyelids, then. This was true black, and to tell the truth, it scared her.

"I'm dead, aren't I." She wasn't asking, she said it like a statement. She knew what was going on. She knew where she was.

"Exactly, dear child." She sat up to see two glowing yellow eyes in the darkness.

"Who the hell are you?!" she asked, her eyes widening.

"I am known as Kalika." The eyes blinked. "Goddess of time, war, change, death, destruction and reality."

"That's a lot of things to be Goddess of." Elly rubbed her temples, trying to ward off a headache.

"Oh, you have _no_ idea." The eyes widened then went back to normal, signaling an eye roll. "No one cares about the _old_ gods, just the _new _ones."

"Isn't God the oldest one?" Elly crossed her legs. "I mean, he _is _Creator of All."

"You think God does _all _the work?" she hissed. "You Americans are so daft. _I _am the Mother of All. He may be creator, but I am Mother."

"So if you're an Indian goddess, why are you here?" Elly asked, leaning back a bit, using her arms to support her.

"Well, Ellesandra, you are in Neverwhere."

"Isn't that a book?"

"No. Well, yes, but this is the _real_ Neverwhere. You aren't underground, child." Kalika shook her invisible head.

"Why am I here?" Elly was actually very surprised she was keeping a straight face. After all, she was dead, talking to a thousand year old Hindu goddess, and she wasn't able to see her hand in front of her face.

Kalika sighed. "Your file is being reviewed by the Angels. They will decided if you are going to Heaven or Hell, or if you should even be dead."

"But I was shot." Elly cocked her head. "I'm dead as a doornail."

"Ah, but that's where you are wrong, Ellesandra. You see, as a Waste-Lock and a child of Jonathan C., you are close to immortal. Do you remember when your father was shot?"

"Uhm..." Elly paused. "I was kicked out the day before and had wandered as far as the next city. Once I found my way home three days later, he had a freaky haircut and the house was trashed." She shook her head. "It took forever for me to clean that up. He said he had met the devil an' everything."

"Well, he had." Kalika was starting to sound bored. "And he lived. So why shouldn't you?"

"This is crazy." She put her head in her hands. "I can't believe this."

"You better." Kalika said sharply. "I'm the one being forced to babysit you!"

Before Elly could reply, a door opened in the corner. She couldn't see the actual door, but a fold of darkness fell into itself and a block of light appeared. A figure darkened the doorway, beckoning Elly to come.

"It's about time, Janus!" Kalika huffed. "I'm tired of taking care of your trash while your out!"

"I'm not-" Elly started, but was interrupted by the man called 'Janus'. "Kalika, you need to get over your fear of maniacs."

"I'm the frikin' _queen _of maniacs, you freak!" Kalika hissed, her eyes slowly fading away, reminding Elly of the Chesire Cat.

Janus turned to Elly and smiled softly. "I'm sorry for her behavior, Ellesandra. Kalika is a little bit _more_ than sore about how things are going on in the world." He laughed. "She's mad that people are not dying as much in this war."

"Ah." Elly walked toward the man, though not of her own accord. He turned and stepped into the light, and Elly followed him.

* * *

Destiny snuck out of the house that night with her school backpack over her shoulder. She didn't know going two days without eating could make a person so _hungry!_

She set off in the direction of the 24/7. Elly had told her about the Brainfreezies there, but she had never actually tried them herself.

After she had gotten one, she was walking back home, sucking in heaven.

"Hey!" Destiny turned around to see a half-drunk 18-year-old stagger up to her. "You were friends with that Elly freak! She killed my girlfriend!"

Destiny growled, and reached back into her backpack for a pair of scissors.

No one talked about Elly that way. _NO ONE._

* * *

Pepito woke up, eyes snapping open and he sat up so quickly the blood rushed to his head and he had to fall back. He lay there for a second before sitting up and examining his body. No marks. At all. He was fine.

"Was... it a dream?" he said aloud, standing up and going to look in the mirror. What he saw made him stagger back.

No horns. No horns at all!

He leaned forward, putting his finger to where they once were. And his eyes... No longer red, they were a chocolate brown. His fingernails were a normal color, no longer naturally black.

A feeling of dread gathered in the pit of his stomach. He put a hand in front of him, and tried to summon a flame like he always had been able to do.

Nothing.

The Devil had taken away his powers. He was no longer the Anti-Christ.

He was human.

* * *

Once stepping through the Light after Janus, I found myself falling at breakneck speed. The G-Force kept me from screaming (heights are my weakness, though I'd never admit it) and I closed my eyes.

I hit something, hard, but it didn't really hurt. I stood up, shakily, and looked around.

"Let me guess..." I rubbed my head. "Hell, right?"

"Funny..." someone with a heavy Mexican accent rasped, "Your father said the exact same thing."

"Oh. My. God." I looked up at a tall demon with horns and really cool eyes. "The Devil? Glad to meet your acquaintance. I know your son."

"He's no longer my _son,_" he hissed. "No thanks to _you._"

My eyes widened. "What? What do you-"

"No matter." the Devil waved it away. "I only need to talk to you for a moment before sending you on your way."

"I'm going to Heaven?" I asked, somewhat shocked. "But I-"

"Oh no," he shook his head. "Not as long as I'm here. I don't let my Waste Locks be treated so badly."

From what I had heard about Heaven from Johnny nine years ago, I couldn't help but agree.

"Even though you killed a bunch of trash, you aren't going to Heaven. And even though you killed an innocent man, you aren't going to Hell."

"So where _am _I going?" I asked, kicking a rock. "Am I going back to Neverwhere? Because Kalika was kind of a bitch."

"No," The Devil grimaced. "You're going back up to Earth to work. You _are _my only living Waste-Lock, remember?"

"What about Johnny?"

"Don't worry about him," he waved it away again, "He's all taken care of."

I didn't want to ask.

"Now Elly, you are quiet unlike any Waste Lock I've ever seen." the Devil said, smiling grimly. "For one, you actually have feelings not unlike love; and you don't try to Immortalize the Moment like everybody else tries to who are in the System."

"Is that bad...?"

"No, not for you."

"Uhm..."

He looked at a nonexistant watch. "Well, lookit the time! You've got to get back up to Earth!"

"But you didn't-"

"Goodbye!"

"But-" At that moment, I started to fade away. As I was almost gone, he leaned down to eye level.

_"Remember, Ellesandra Carsonelgro, you can save one person and one person only. You'll know how when the time comes."_

"What the hell-?" I yelled as I disappeared.

Shit.

* * *

"Hey..." Destiny sat up in her bed quickly, drops of leftover blood that was still a bit wet flying off her face and splattering on her clothes. "Pepito's the Anti-Christ! He can bring Elly back!" She slapped her forehead. "Duh!"

She stood up and quickly ran out the door, ignoring the stare from her sister. Forgetting that she hadn't gotten her drivers permit, she stuck the keys in the car and pulled out of the driveway, speeding toward Pepito's house.

Destiny was just down the street when a police officer pulled her over.

"Excuse me, miss, but you are speeding and-" his eyes dilated when he saw the young girl covered in blood sitting in the drivers seat.

"Helloooooo, officer!" she smiled. "I was just going over to my friend Pepito's house so he can bring my dead friend back to life! He's the Anti-Christ, you know."

"I... need you to step out of the car." he said, stepping back. Destiny almost skipped out of the car, and he seized her, knocking her out with the butt of his gun.

When she woke up, she was in a padded cell.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck."

* * *

When Elly woke up, the first thing she felt was the rain drops on her cheeks, running down each side like teardrops. She slowly sat up, and realized that her clothes were already soaked, although it was only sprinkling. She must have been there a while.

She started to use her left hand to help herself up, but winced and pulled it away, looking down to see a large hole through her main vein. Elly slowly poked her finger through it, realizing that skin had grown over the muscle and tissue to stop any bleeding there once was. But the pain was still there, only when moved it.

After a moments thought, she reached down and ripped a strip off her soaked, blood spattered skirt and wrapped it tightly around her hand, so that no skin showed through.

Sighing, Elly stood up and started to walk, reaching idly toward her right eye, not surprised to only feel a large bruise surrounding a hole. She brushed a bit of hair over it, covering the wound, and continued to walk, ignoring the rain that was slowly starting to get heavier, sticking her already wet clothes and hair to her body.

She walked for a while, no idea where she was or where she was going, but soon she reached a familiar house. It was Pepito's. She stood in front of it for quite a while, just staring, before the door opened, flooding the walkway with light. A tall, thin and muscular figure with long hair stood in the doorway, sweeping the lawn with a flashlight. "Who's there?!" a familiar voice yelled. "Show yourself!"

Elly stood still, watching as his light slowly made his way to her. He moved the light up her body, slowly, before finally reaching her face.

"...Lly?" He seemed shocked, and she gave into the temptation to run up and jump on him, swinging her arms around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder. He stood there for a moment before hugging her lightly, before getting tighter to the point that it was like he'd never let go.

"Oh God Pepito... Oh God..." she whispered, eyes tightly shut. "I've had the strangest day."

"Day?" Pepito pulled her back so that his hands were holding hers, looking into her one green eye. "How long do you think you've been gone?"

"A day...?" Elly started to wonder. _How could his hair have gotten to his shoulders in a day? _

"Elly, you've been dead three years. Destiny..." He paused. "Destiny's in the mental institute. She just got out on something like parol." Pepito seemed reluctant to tell her, and shock broke something in her in half, and he could see it in her wide eye, which seemed wide in an almost inhuman way; it was something she had probably gotten from her father.

"Oh Christ..." She looked down, looked back up at him, then back at the ground. "She's...okay, right?"

"More or less... She was caught speeding toward my house, and tried to convince an officer that got her that I could bring you back to life because I was the Anti-Christ."

Elly looked up at him. "You did bring me back, right?"

He sighed. "If only it were that simple." He lifted her hand so that it was in the space between their heads, intertwining their fingers. He closed his eyes for a moment, and she felt a dying presence in him, slowly fading. "Father took away my powers because I broke you out."

Her eyes widened even more, if that was even possible. "I'm so sorry... this is all my fault..."

"Don't say that, please Elly, don't say that." He shook his head. "It's not your fault. I could have stayed home and let you rot in prison, which would have killed me, but it would have not only saved my future but it would have saved your life as well. Destiny was supposed to be the Waste Lock after Johnny, and you were just a tool for it. Mayhem transferred over to her, she's in her mind now, slowly rotting it away..."

"Fuck it all!" Elly spat, glaring at the ground to her left, then looked up. "I need to see her. Does she still live near here?"

"She does." Pepito nodded, then let her hands go. As she started to turn away, he grabbed her upper forearm. Elly turned around. "I have this strange feeling I won't ever see you again." he whispered. After a moments silence, when only the rain was heard, Pepito seemed deep in thought. He looked up at her and grabbed her right hand with both of his, dropping to one knee. "Elly C... If I ever see you again... will you marry me?"

A shocked silence followed the proposal, and she grinned. "We've only known each other for three months, but since we've technically been going out for three years, I'll have to say yes."

She pressed her lips against hers, wrapping her arms around his neck. This kiss wasn't like her first, or like Dick's. A warm feeling spread through her body, making her almost laugh, tingles spreading from the top of her head to her toes.

It wasn't something that either of them could explain, but both could feel. It was like the two were almost meant for each other, like they had spent their whole lives looking for each other. And although neither of them would ever admit it, they loved each other more than life itself.

(A/N- just jumping in here- all romance from 'she pressed her lips' to 'life itself' is written by meh good friend Briar. Thank you, Briar~! Why? Because I fail at this stuff.)

After a moment, she forced herself to pull away and step back. "I... I have to go."

Pepito nodded. "_Adios_."

"_Adios_." Elly nodded, smiled and ran away into the night, her thin figure disappearing into blackness sooner than he would have liked.

Pepito turned and walked into the house, just noticing that he was soaking wet from standing out in the rain all this time. "_Madre!_" he called, smiling. "You'll never guess what just happened to your favorite son!"

Elly ran for a while, three blocks to be exact, until she reached Destiny's house. She looked up at the top floor, noticing that the only light that was on was that one, the center window. Hoping that that was Destiny's room, Elly climbed up the conveniently placed ivy to peek in. Indeed, it was Destiny, and her once chest-length hair now reached the nape of her back. She was toying with a small cheerleader doll, smiling grimly. Elly noticed with a burst of horror that the doll Destiny was playing with was none other than Mayhem, the sadistic cheerleader voice thing.

_So what are you going to do now? _Elly was so startled at the sudden intrusion of her mind that she yelped and dropped back, letting go of the ivy and falling two stories to the ground, landing hard on her ass.

"Oh shit, not you aga-" she cut herself off when the window opened, flooding light onto the yard. Lly dashed into the bushes as a familiar voice yelled out, "Who's there?"

When no one answered, Destiny cursed and closed the window loudly.

"You're not Mayhem..." Elly whispered, rubbing her bruised bottom, "So who the hell are you?"

_I personally do not believe that names are quite needed, but since you asked, I will tell you. My name is Misery._

"Misery, huh?"Elly sighed. "Well, Misery, will you please do me the favor of shutting up while I talk to my friend?"

_Since you asked kindly, I will obey._

"You talk freaky." she sighed and climbed up once again to the window. She caught snags of conversation from outside the glass.

"-stole you from Elly's-

"-not my fault you-"

"-SHUT UP!-" Destiny screamed and tossed the doll into the wall. "It is _NOT _my fault!"

Elly wondered what Mayhem was saying, then tapped on the window. Destiny was too busy screaming words at Mayhem, so she fiddled with the lock for a moment before it clicked, and she lifted it slowly, stepping into the room. Destiny still hadn't noticed her, so she stepped further in and tapped her on the shoulder.

Destiny whirled around, and before Elly could say anything, she punched at her. Elly ducked, and Destiny kicked, catching her in the stomach and the force driving the younger into the headboard of the bed. Elly noticed the wild look in her eyes, recognizing it as the one she had the day she died. _Destiny doesn't recognize me, _Elly realized as she threw her hands above her head and caught Destiny's hand.

"Destiny!" she yelled. "It's me! Elly! Lly! Stop it!"

Destiny stopped with her other fist an inch from the others nose.

"_Elly?_" she whispered, suddenly grasping her friend in a hug. "Elly!"

"Can't----Breath----" Lly gasped, and Destiny pulled back, grinning widely.

"I can't believe you're alive!" the girl gasped. "You look just like you did three years ago!"

It was true. Besides her injuries, Elly looked like the same sixteen year old girl she had always been. Destiny, now twenty, looked the same, but different as well. She was definitely taller, and with a bigger chest. A few lines on her face showed her three years in the DHMI, but besides that, she was exactly the same.

"I can't believe you're insane!" Lly grinned, and Destiny grinned back. "I know! Now we can be insane together!"

Elly didn't have the heart to tell her that she wasn't exactly insane anymore.

"Yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh........." Elly grinned and hugged back-although she hated hugs- and sighed. "You shouldn't have..."

"He dissed you, Elly!" Destiny seemed mad now, her face twisted with rage. "He called you a freak! And while I was killing him, he said the most vulgar things and-"

"Calm down!" Elly placed her hand on her best friends shoulder. "It... It's okay! Sure, he deserved it!"

Destiny's face changed from raging to happy again so fast you could almost hear the click. "Right!"

Right then and there, Elly knew the meaning of the Devil's words. _You can save one person and one person only. You'll know how when the time comes._

"I can't stay long." Elly said as she watched her friend's face fall. "But I have something to give you before I go."

Almost mechanically, Elly reached for the knife inside her boot, only slightly surprised that it was still there. She grabbed Destiny's hand and intertwined their fingers. "I need you to promise to never kill anybody ever again."

"I can't-"

"You can." Elly said shortly, pressing the knife blade to Destiny's thumb. "Blood promise."

One by one, she nicked every one of Destiny's fingers so that they were bleeding, and then did the same to her own. She pressed Destiny's bloody fingers to her own, hard. Destiny pressed back. They stayed like this, eyes closed, for several minutes.

I wish I could say it was a peaceful, silent time for the two, but I must tell the truth when telling this story.

Destiny felt like something was leaving her, leaving her brain dusty and unused. The madness was fading, slowly healing itself. As corny as it sounds, a peace filled her, like someone she loved was hugging. The feeling like the feeling she had when she and Todd first kissed last year filled every bone, every vein and she felt like she was in the embrace of someone warm and loving. As for Elly, it was the direct opposite. Something was flowing into her, so fast it was almost painful, spreading through every cell of her body to the point that it felt like she was burning up inside. Something was eating away at her joyfully, and it almost made her laugh.

Then it was over .She was crazy again, and Destiny was not.

Elly pulled her hand away, and so did Destiny.

"What did you..." Destiny looked at her friend with wide gray eyes.

"I saved you." she said shortly. "Something I learned in Hell." She hugged her friend, smiling sadly. "I'll see you later."

"Somehow, I feel like I won't see you for a long time...." Destiny whispered as she pulled away. Elly winked. "Maybe, maybe not."

And with that, she leapt out the window and disappeared almost instantly, leaving Destiny to her thoughts.

_Damn you! _Mayhem cursed, screaming. _Why the hell did you sacrifice your sanity to save hers?_

_Don't you understand, May? _Misery laughed. _She's returning a favor._

_What favor?! _Mayhem hissed.

_It sounds corny as hell, but Destiny saved Elly by becoming her friend. You've been there since the beginning. I'm sure you would know._

Mayhem didn't answer, and Elly smiled slightly. By this time, she was at the outskirts of the city. She turned around and sent a final glance at the place that had made her life worthwhile, ruined it, ended it and began it again. After this, she turned around and started to run again.

It was over. And it was beginning again.

**-FiN-**

Notes:

Well, look at that! We're finally done. No, I kid. We're not. I'm planning on making this a trilogy, which'll be the sequel to Fate and the triquel to Destiny. As you can see, I've renamed this- kind of. Johnny in Gotham is now called Destiny. This means that the last part will be started with Destiny, kind of like this one. I wanted to try something new. ^^ I'm really proud of this chapter because it's the longest ever! The beginning chapters are all about 1-4 chapters long, and the more recent ones are about 8 pages long. HA! This chapter is 14 pages long! That's a huge achievement for me! I'm going to start on the next chapter of Crimes and Punishments now. Stay tuned for the last story in the Destiny trilogy! The introduction is coming out tomorrow, and after that updates will be the same as this one- every Monday. Nikki, I'll ask you here to please not write the first chapter of the second part for you until I get the actual first chapter up. The introduction is just that- an introduction. That's all.

And now, for Chapter Notes.

+If you're wondering where Robin is, he decided that the problem was solved so he went back to Gotham and moved to Blüdhaven and became Nightwing. He still has no idea what happened in Vasquezville after he left.

+As for Devi and Johnny, they come back to Vasquezville to find that Elly's body is missing from the morgue, Johnny's house is burned down. They talked to Destiny, who told them that she is alive and well, but disappeared. She has no idea where she is. Pepito told them what happened, and now has a bruised eye because Johnny got pissed that his daughter is engaged. They moved back to Kentucky, where Johnny realized that he isn't crazy anymore. They have not given up the search for their daughter.

+Neverwhere is a place described in Roman mythology, but with a different name. I took the name from the book Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman.

+Please do not take anything in this chapter offensively- as a Lutheran, I believe that God is the only God, and no others. But I didn't want Elly to meet God, because... well... I just don't like the way Jhonen depicts him.

+ "this war" is the Iraq war. Janus is comparing the war to the really old wars, like in Ancient Greek times and stuff. Even though lots and lots of people are dead in this war (the Crazy Old Lady across the street is keeping track) it's nothing compared to the Old Wars. I guess.

+The blood-sharing thing is a really old (I mean OLD) Wiccan ritual I learned during my very brief time as a Wiccan. And no, it doesn't switch sanity. That's totally made up, so don't try it. Before the Wiccan religion had its name, and it was just the worshiping of several gods, this was like a initiation ritual that was done to 'make one part of the family of the Goddess'. My warning- don't do this. Ever. Blood play is superbly dangerous and can get you diseases if you don't have the same blood type, and even if. Elly and Destiny are fictional characters, so they survive. DO NOT DO THIS.

Yeah, thank Briar for writing the cheesy romance. I sucked hard at the last fluff, so she tried it and it was 100 times better than my (failed) try. Why did I make Pepito propose to Elly? To tell the truth, it was just to take up space. ^^' I got the idea from Bakuman. I read way too much romance... Yeah, the Strings of Destiny have a fucked up sense of Karma. And anyway, it might become valuable in the next story. But I doubt it. I'll talk it out with Nikki.

+The Fates and the Strings of Destiny belong to Greek mythology, not me. I got the idea while watching Hercules with my sister and her friends.

**+Kalika: **Kalika is first mentioned in Hinduism as a distinct goddess, related to war, around 600 CE. Scriptures like Agni Purana and Garuda Purana describe her terrible appearance and associate her with corpses and war. The oldest mention of Kalika dates back to Rigvedic age. The 'Ratri Sookta' in Rigveda actually calls her as Goddess 'Ratri' and regards Ratri as the Supreme Force in the universe. In the Tantras, she is regarded as the Shakti (Power) of The Great Mahkla (a form of Lord Shiva). Her portrayal on dead bodies in crematorium symbolizes her presence in the hearts of devotees who have killed their Earthly desires and want Supreme Consciousness in the lap of the Ultimate Mother, Kalika. In another form, she is regarded as the destroyer, the Mahakali as Kali Tantra says-"kli klant" meaning Kalika is the one who finishes. Kalika Purana depicts her as the "Adi Shakti" (Fundamental Power) and "Para Prakriti" or beyond nature.

**+Janus: **In Roman mythology,Janus(or Ianus) was the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings and endings. His most prominent remnant in modern culture is his namesake, the month of January, which begins the new year. He is most often depicted as having two faces or heads, facing in opposite directions. He is often depicted with the symbol of a key, which associates him with the Underworld.


End file.
